i 

m 



mmm 



^if 



itil 



msM 



SKiv 



mm, 



W0m 



^!<^m 



m 



mmm/MM 



m^i^m 



m 



'm- 






mm 



i^imm 



m 



m 



m 



I LI BRARY OF CONGRE SS. 

j|l>np.Q.L|oprigw|o 



{ J//.e//.\-\3. 



I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 




The Bap'tism of Christ, as shown on the Dome oj* the Bap- 
tistery OP Ratenna.— Page 2s7. 



THE MODE 



OF 



CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 



/- 



BY REV. SAMUEL HUTCHINGS, 

ORANGE, N. J. 



Apparet aspersionem quoque aquas instar salutaris lavacri obti- 
nere. — Cyprian ad Mag. 







PUBLISHED BY 

WARREK & WYMAT^, 
13 BIBLE HOUSE, N. Y. 



.,E Library 

, CONGHRSS 
WASHINGTON 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

WARREN & WYMAN, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



PREFACE. 



npHE mode of Baptism has been thoroughly discussed 
for three hundred years by the ablest Biblical schol- 
ars. To claim originality, therefore, at the present day 
for a work on this subject, would be presumption. All 
that one can now do, is to select from the facts of phi- 
lology and history, availing himself of the results of 
modem research, place the argument in new lights, and 
adapt it to the wants of our time. 

The present work originated in a conviction of its 
necessity, not so much for the purpose of changing the 
mode of baptism among those who insist upon immer- 
sion, as to help those who are in doubt and inquiring for 
the truth. The author had seen strenuous efforts made 
in conversation, and by loan of books, to induce converts 
connected with other churches to be immersed, and had 
known some not a little perplexed by the arguments and 
objections they had heard. He felt, therefore, that a 
book in familiar and popular style, in a spirit of candor 
3 



iv PREFACE. 

and charity, would be useful, especially among the 
young. 

Another and special reason for presenting this subject 
at this time, is its connection with the unity of the 
Church as prominently brought forward at the late meet- 
ing of the Evangelical Alliance. Many are longing for 
the removal of the barriers which men have erected to 
divide the disciples of Christ, and prevent their showing 
their oneness in him at his Memorial Supper. Even 
in the Baptist churches, there are many who are pained 
because they cannot commune with their brethren, and 
desire this separating wall broken down. Apart from 
the question of communion at the Lord's table, the dis- 
cussion of the mode of baptism is of little consequence. 
If all took the course of Robert Hall, Bunyan, Spur- 
geon, and the English Baptists generally, who though 
preferring immersion yet commune with those not im- 
mersed, there would be no occasion for controversy as to 
the mode. But since it is contended that immersion 
alone is baptism, and that baptism is a pre-requisite to 
communion, it becomes important to show that other 
modes are as valid as immersion. 

To relieve the dryness of dissertation, the conversa- 
tional form has been adopted in this work ; at the same 
time it has not been thought best to occupy the mind of 
the reader with the absorbing interest of a romance. 
The parties to the conversation are a pastor and two of 
his children on one side, and his sister and her son on 



PREFACE. V 

the other, with a young lady whose opinions were not 
yet formed. 

It will be seen that the author has deviated from the 
common method of referring first of all to the ancient 
Greek authors for the meaning of Baptizo. Those who 
make immersion the only valid baptism, claim that this 
was the exclusive meaning of the word in the ancient 
Greek classics, and rely on that as their strong argu- 
ment. We go directly to the Bible. The first and 
main question is, not how the old heathen Greeks used 
the word, but how Christ and the apostles understood 
and used it, and how the Jews, who adopted and natural- 
ized the word after the conquests of Alexander, used it 
in reference to their various ritual ablutions. It is 
shown in this work that there were many baptisms which 
could not possibly have been immersions, and hence that 
all the argument from Baptizo in classic writings weighs 
nothing. To gratify those however who appeal to the 
ancient Greeks, we have gone to their classics and Lexi- 
cons, and shown that Baptizo does not mean to dip, and 
is no modal word at all. 

The author having received from several competent 
critics, who have examined the work in manuscript, de- 
cided approval of it, is led to believe that it will receive 
the approval also of those for whom it is designed. He 
desires to express liis appreciation of the great interest 
taken in this work by his friend the Rev. I. P. Warren, 
1). D., and to acknowledge his valuable help in its final 
prc^paratioji for the press. 



yi PREFACE. 

If this volume shall aid in relieving the minds of those 
who are perplexed, deepening in the mmds of all the 
conviction that the spirit of Christianity is above rites 
and forms, and leading those who have been " baptized 
into Christ," to exhibit to the world their oneness in 
him, by partaking together at his table of the feast 
which commemorates his death, the author's object will 
be accomplished. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 
CHAPTER I. 

THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE, . . • • 9 

CHAPTER 11. 
JOHN'S BAPTISM, 21 

CHAPTER III. 
DIVERS BAPTISMS,, . . . . . • 57 

CHAPTER lY. 

PRACTICE AND TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES, . 104 

CHAPTER y. 
CLASSIC USAGE, 155 

CHAPTER YI. 
USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH, . . .214 

CHAPTER YII. 
USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH, . . .265 

CHAPTER YIII. 
THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT, 294 

Synoptical Index, ••••••••• 336 

7 



THE 



MODE OF BAPTISM 



CHAPTER I. 

THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. 

WELL," said Joseph Mason as he overtook 
his uncle, the Rev. Charles Stanley, and 
his cousin Mary, on their way home from the 
closing session of the World's Evangelical Alli- 
ance, — "we have had a glorious meeting. Never 
before have I seen any thing so nearly approach- 
ing what we hope the Millennum will be." 

'' It was indeed," warmly responded Mr. Stan- 
ley. ''It was truly good to be there. The 
whole occasion has seemed to me like one of 
the ancient festivals of the assembled tribes of 
Israel." 



10 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" More than that, I think, father," said Mary. 
" Those, at the best, were but the gatherings of 
a single nation. Ours has been almost literally 
a ivorld's meeting of devout men out of every 
nation under heaven. And then it was good 
to see so many evangelical denominations joining 
in it. I am sure no person present could help 
feeling something of the blessedness of Chris- 
tian unity, — that which our Lord prayed for so 
fervently in behalf of his dear people, ' that 
they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me 
and I in thee, that the world may believe that 
thou hast sent me.' " 

'' And if there were any who did not feel its 
sweetness, they must still have felt its power," 
remarked her father. ''I have often thought 
of the significance of those last words. ' That 
the world may beheve.' " 

''Yes," rejoined Joseph, ''nothing can be a 
more convincing demonstration of the truth of 
Christianity than its power to fuse into one the 
hearts of men of different nationalities, lan- 
guages, education, and beUefs on all other sub- 
jects: and nothing more affecting than to see 
the manifestation of that unity in the prayers, 
and testimonies of personal experience, and 



THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. 11 

songs of praise, which we have witnessed 
during this great rehgious Jubilee." 

'' Tliere was one thing wanting,! think," said 
Mary, " to complete that expression. We ought 
to have had at least one united communion 
season at the table of the Lord. Never was 
there a more fitting occasion, or one when it 
would have been more delightful to the com- 
municants or more impressive to the world." 

" But that, you know, cousin Mary, would 
have been hardly practicable," replied Joseph. 

" And why not ? " she asked. 

" Oh — well — you know that there were those 
whose princij)les would not have permitted them 
to join in it." 

" More shame to their principles, then, I 
think ! " she exclaimed with some warmth. 
Then suddenly recollecting herself, she added, 
" Oh, I forgot, Joseph, your close communion 
sentiments. I did not mean to hurt your feel- 
ings. And yet, really, I don't see how you can 
cling to them at such a time as this." 

'' You have not hurt my feelings," he replied, 
"because I know that you did not intend to do 
so. And indeed I will own to you that the ne- 
cessity of declining such an act of Christian fel- 



12 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

lowship on such an occasion is a painful one. I 
am longing for the day to come when we can all 
say truly, not only ' one Lord and one faith,' but 
also, ' one baptism ; ' and then will follow in 
natural and beautiful sequence, one communion 
table." 

The young man said this in a tone of deep 
seriousness and even tenderness, which showed 
that his heart was touched, and their arrival at 
the house of his mother in ~th Street, inter- 
rupted the conversation. 

" Come in," said he, as he passed up the steps ; 
''it is not late ; mother will be glad to see you." 

They entered, and were received with a hearty 
greeting. Mrs. Mason was a sister of Mr. Stan- 
ley's. His wife had died some years before, leav- 
ing two children, Arthur and Mary, both young, 
and this aunt had cherished for them, in their 
bereavement, almost the same tenderness as for 
her own. Her health was now delicate, and she 
had not felt strong enough to attend the meet- 
ings of the Alliance, but she had heard reports 
of them from her son, and rejoiced greatly in the 
excellent spirit manifested in them, and the 
promise they gave of good to the cause of re- 
ligion. 



THE EVANGELTCAL ALLIANCE. 13 

Joseph Mason was a young man of fine talents 
and liberal education. He had recently com- 
menced the practice of law, and bade fair in a 
few years to rise to eminence in it. He was still 
a bachelor, residing with his mother, though ex- 
pecting ere long to marry a young lady every 
way worthy of his choice. His cousin, Arthur 
Stanley, was a little younger than himself, and 
was now engaged in the study of medicine. 
Both of them were active members of the Young 
Men's Christian Association, whose guests the 
Alliance had been during its sessions. Young 
Mason had professed religion in the Baptist 
church, to which, also, his parents belonged, 
while Arthur and his sister were members of the 
Presbyterian Church, under the pastoral care of 
their father. 

After a little general conversation upon the 
meeting of the evening, Mary turned again to 
Joseph and said, 

'' But do you feel, cousin, that you could not 
commune at the Lord's table with such men as 
were gathered in this Alliance ? There was the 
chairman. President Woolsey, a man combining 
the highest graces of piety with the profoundest 
scholarship, and Dr. Adams, the venerable pastor, 



14 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

learned, scholarly and devout, and the excellent 

Bishop of the Methodist Church. And from 

beyond the sea, the Dean of Canterbury, and the 
eloquent Dr. Parker, and Prof. Christlieb, — oh ! 
I can't tell them all, — the very best men in the 
world. You can't commune with them ! And 
is it all because they have not been baptized in 
just the way you have been ? " 

" No, cousin Mary, it is not that. If it were 
merely a difference in the form of baptism I 
could not make so much of it. It is rather be- 
cause thsT/ have not been baptized at all. We can- 
not admit that sprinkling a little water upon a 
person is, in any sense, a Christian baptism." 

'' And I suppose, inasmuch as baptism is the 
door of the church," said Mr. Stanley, ''that 
you would go on and pronounce these, and all 
others who like them have not been immersed, as 
not within the church at all." 

"Yes, sir; we are compelled to accept that 
inference." 

" And I take it this is the view commonly held 
by our Baptist friends. I fell in not long ago 
with an article by Dr. S. F. Smith, one-of the 
prominent ministers and hyrnn-writers of the 
denomination, which for its outspoken plainness 



THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. 15 

in avowing such sentiments I preserved as a 
curiosity of the nineteenth century. It appeared 
under his own name in the Watchman and Re- 
flector of Aug. 1, 1872. I will read only the 
first and last paragraphs. The article is entitled, 
' Is the Baptist Church a Schism ? ' 

'''We maintain,' says he, ^that the Baptist 
church is the church of Christ and the only 
church of Christ on earth.' (I emphasize his 
own Italics.) 'It is not a schism, but every 
other body professing to be a church is a schism. 
You may think this is uncharitable, but I believe 
logic and experience and the investigation of the 
Divine word will convince you.' Then after 
giving a specimen of his ' logic ' in which, as 
usual with Baptists, one of the premises is a 
simple assumption that the Greek word haptizo 
means immersion and nothing else, he derives his 
conclusion thus : ' From these principles it fol- 
lows, that the Baptist church is Christ's church 
as originally existing, and all other so called 
churches are only schisms. There is but one 
main trunk; all else are slabs split off from it.' " 

" Shocking ! " cried Mary. " Is it possible 
that any enlightened Christian man can, at this 
day, take such extreme ground as this ? Why, 



16 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

nothing but the most explicit and certain declara- 
tions of the Scriptures could warrant it." 

" You may well say that," continued her father. 
" A position so exclusive, so destructive of the 
unity of the church of Christ, and so well calcu- 
lated to wound the feelings of others confessedly 
no way inferior in all Christian graces and attain- 
ments, ought to rest on the most indisputable 
grounds. Such a position unchurches by far the 
largest portion of Christendom. No matter how 
many evidences they give of being true Chris- 
tians, in vital union with the Lord himself; no 
matter how abundant the fruits of their piety, in 
faith and holy living and devotion to his cause on 
earth ; no matter how richly they may enjoy the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost, making them like 
Christ in zeal and love and steadfastness, still if 
they have not been baptized, not only in what 
they sincerely believe to be a proper manner, but 
by being dipped under water ^ they are not within 
the church of Christ, and have no covenanted 
title to its privileges and blessings ! And we 
well know that with these views their practice, 
for the most part, coincides. They treat other 
Christians as unbaptized persons ; they will not 
commune with them at the table of the Lord; 



THE EVANGELICAL ALLLiVNCE. 17 

they will not receive them without re-baptism to 
their own churches, nor join with them in trans- 
lating and circulating the Bible among the 
heathen. And, observe, this judgment of their 
fellow Christians, this saber-stroke, which, with 
a single swoop cuts through the one living body 
of Christ's followers, is not made on account of a 
difference in doctrine or practice, apart from the 
rite in question, not on the pretense of anything 
fundamental to Christian experience or useful- 
ness, but solely on the point whether a rite which 
is only the outer symbol of a truth, — the ' shadow 
of a shade,' as one has well expressed it,— shall 
be performed in one way or another ! " 

Mr. Stanley spoke with some emphasis, as his 
age and character warranted him in doing. 
Joseph replied : 

" But if our views are right, uncle, as to what 
baptism zs, we cannot be held responsible for the 
consequences which flow from them. The re- 
sponsibility for whatever discord or schism may 
result, must rest with those who differ from us." 

" I agree with you in saying that conclusions 
cannot be separated from their premises," replied 
Mr. Stanley ; " and so, on the other hand, premi- 
ses may be fairly tested by their conclusions.. If 



18 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

you can show a jury by fair argument that your 
opponent's claim leads inevitably to results which 
their common sense and manly feelings disown, 
you have no fear for the verdict they will ren- 
der." 

'' But the principles on which we stand are 
precisely the same that are recognized by other 
denominations," urged Joseph. " The whole 
question is narrowed down to this : Is an un- 
immersed person baptized ? You yourself do 
not admit unbaptized persons to your communion 
table ; why, then, are you not as strict close com- 
munionists as ourselves ? " 

" The two cases are not at all parallel. With 
us, ' an unbaptized person ' does not mean one 
acknowledged to be a sincere Christian, who be- 
lieves in baptism, and has, according to his own 
sincere and best judgment, been baptized, though 
in a different way from ourselves, but one who 
does not pretend to have rendered obedience to 
Christ's commands, or in some way gives evidence 
that he is not a truly regenerated soul. We ex- 
clude him, not because he has not been baptized, 
but presumptively because he has not been con- 
verted." 

" Well," said Joseph, " it comes to very nearly 



THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. 19 

the same thing. Christ commands men to be 
baptized, that is, immersed, and he who, know- 
ing this, refuses or neglects to do so, disobeys 
Christ. I will not say he is not a Christian ; it 
is not for us to judge his heart ; but we do say he 
does not give us that evidence of it which, ac- 
cording to the Bible, warrants his reception to 
the table of the Lord. ' Ye are my friends,' said 
Christ himself, ' if ye do whatsoever I command 
you.'" 

''Your reasoning fails in a very vitaL point. 
You say 'baptized, that is immersed,' which 
quietly assumes the very matter in dispute. Now 
it can be shown from the Bible, I think, that no 
exclusive mode is required for valid baptism, or 
if there be, it is sprinkling, not immersion." 

" I wish you would show it to us, father," said 
Mary. " I, for one, have never investigated thb 
matter thoroughly, yet the truth is as important 
to me, and to Arthur, as it is to Aunt Emily and 
Joseph. If we are unbaptized persons, and out 
of the true church of Christ, I want to know 
it. Will you let us form a class for the study 
of the subject, under your tuition ? " 

" Of course, I will not refuse, if you request 
it, though to tell the truth, I have little taste for 



20 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

these questions which separate evangelical Chris- 
tians. But whom do you mean by 'us? ' Cousin 
Joseph is doubtless thoroughly posted on the 
subject already." 

''No, sir ; I should not like to be left out if 
such a class were formed. It would give me 
great pleasure to go over the subject with you, 
and I doubt not you can give me much instruc- 
tion concerning it. 1 would only like to stipu- 
late, for mother's sake, who cannot go out, that 
if the class be formed it shall meet here, unless 
indeed, it would be inconvenient to you." 

Mrs. Mason objected to having the arrange- 
ments shaped with any special reference to her ; 
but as the party all protested they should prefer 
to meet there rather than any where else, she 
gave her assent. 

" When shall it be, then ? " asked Mr. Stanley. 

" Oh, as soon as possible ! " cried the impulsive 
Mary. " I vote for to-morrow evening." 

" Very well, then," said Joseph, " to-morrow 
evening let it be." 



John's baptism. 21 



CHAPTER II. 

John's baptism. 

ON the next evening, the party assembled as 
they had agreed, in the cosy sitting-room 
of Mrs. Mason, Arthur Stanley accompanying 
his father and sister. A Bible and a Concord- 
ance lay upon the center table, and several 
smaller Bibles were distributed about it. In the 
library, occupying a recess of the room, was 
Webster's large Dictionary, and Joseph had 
placed there a Greek Testament and Lexicon, 
with several other books furnished him by his 

pastor, the Rev. Dr. , whom he had privately 

consulted in respect to the approaching inter- 
view. 

The cousins were all in the best of spirits, an- 
ticipating the delight which bright and ingenuous 
minds ever feel in the search after truth, with 
the added interest of its being a subject appeal- 



22 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

ing directly to their tenderest religious feelings. 
Mrs. Mason herself showed a faint tinge of 
pleasurable excitement in her pale cheek, as she 
returned the caresses of her niece, and found 
her usually quiet apartment a scene of so much 
interest. Beside her was a young lady of about 
Mary's age, whom the latter seized by the hand 
with the warmest expressions of pleasure. 

" Why, Nellie Ashton, I am delighted to see 
you. You w411 join us in our study, won't you ? 
I was saying to Arthur that I hoped Joseph 
would bring Nellie in too.. Cousin Joe, we are 
very much obliged to you." 

Miss Ashton was the fiancee of Joseph Mason, 
a quiet and somewhat reserved young lady, 
but with a fine understanding and a warm and 
generous heart. She had quite recently obtained 
a Christian hope, though she had not as yet 
made a profession of religion. This was now 
beginning to press itself upon her consideration 
as a matter of personal duty. In one respect it 
tried her greatly. With her anticipation of a 
life-long union with Joseph, she could not bear to 
be separated from him in the fellowship of the 
church, and with her devoted attachment to her 
parents she could as little endure the thought of 



I ^ 



John's baptism. 23 

separating herself from tliem by joining a close 
communion church. Her lover had been too 
delicate to press his views upon her, and yet she 
knew well his wishes, while her mother, though 
anxious that Nellie should satisfy her own con- 
science, was even more than herself pained that 
such a life barrier should be erected between 
them, and, as she regarded 'it, for no suilEicient 
reason. It was, then, quite opportunely, as 
Joseph felt, that this discussion on the mode of 
baptism, was suggested by his lively cousin ; for 
though he knew and greatly respected his uncle's 
learning and abilities, yet so certain did he feel 
of the strength of his cause, and withal his own 
powers of persuasion with such an auditor, that 
he had no doubt of the result, without subject- 
ing himself to the imputation of making her re- 
gard for him an instrument for proselyting her to 
his faith. 

Placing Mr. Stanley at the head of the table, 
and Mrs. Mason in a large easy chair by his side, 
the party arranged themselves around it, and 
Mary, ever foremost in suggestion, cried merrily : 

"Well, here we are, all ready. Now, how 
shall we begin? " 

'' I think," said Mr. Stanley, ''that we should 



24 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

turn to the institution of baptism by our Lord. 
Here it is, in Matt. 28 : 19. ' Go ye therefore 
and teach all nations, baptizing them iisr the 

NAME OF THE FaTHEK, AND OF THE SON, AND 

OF THE Holy Ghost.' Our business, as it 
seems to me, is simply to ascertain the import of 
this divine command." 

'' And in order to do this, we must take the 
Greek word haptizo^ and see what its meaning 
was among the native Greeks," said Joseph, who 
had received some hints from his pastor as to the 
most advisable method of procedure. '' If we 
would ascertain the exact import of a word, we 
should inquire of those who spoke it as a part of 
their vernacular tongue." 

'' Perhaps so," replied Mr. Stanley, "but is it 
not more to the point to find out what our Lord 
himself meant ? That is our object, is it not ? " 

'' Certainly," said Joseph ; " but it comes to 
the same thing. The commission was given in 
Greek, and of course is to be understood accord- 
ing to the ordinary usage of the Greek speaking 
people." 

" I am not so sure as to that," replied Mr. 
Stanley. " The Greeks were heathen, you know, 
and used the language to express their own 



John's baptism. 25 

heathen ideas. We want to know, not what 
these were or might have been, but what Christ's 
idea was. And this we should ascertain in the 
same way that we would seek the meaning of 
any other ancient document." 

'' How is that ? " inquired Arthur. 

" I will illustrate it by an example. Sir 
William Blackstone, in his ' Commentaries on 
the Laws of England,' says that a law of King 
Edward III. forbade ' all Ecclesiastical persons to 
ipMYGh^se provisions at Rome.' This seems to us 
a very singular law, and might well lead one to 
stop and ask what it could mean. Now, suppose 
a controversy should arise as to the signification 
of the word ' provisions.' It would avail nothing 
to show that its usual meaning is food, or 
victuals, or to search the dictionaries and find 
the etymology, or to ascertain how the historians 
and poets and philosophers of past times had 
used it. We should rather inquire under what 
circumstances the law was made ; what were its 
occasion and object; how the king's ministers 
and courtiers understood it ; what was done in 
executing it, etc. ' The law,' said Blackstone, 
' might seem to prohibit the buying of grain, and 
other victuals; but when we consider that the 



26 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

statute was made to repress the usurpations of 
the Papal See ; and that nominations to bene- 
fices by the Pope were called '^ provisions," we 
shall see that the restraint is intended to be laid 
on such provisions only.' So in the present case, 
our simple task is to inquire what Christ meant^ in 
giving his commands. For what he meant is the 
law, whether he used words as the heathen 
Greeks did or not." 

^' I think that is very reasonable, so far as I 
understand it," said Mrs. Mason. '' I'm sure 
what J want to know is what my Saviour meant, 
when he commanded me to be baptized. If I can 
find out this, it matters little what others mean." 

'' What then," said Arthur, '' should be our 
first inquiry in this case ? " 

'' Obviously, how the apostles to whom he gave 
the commission understood him? " 

'' And how shall we do this ? " said Mary. 

" By asking what means they had of under- 
standing him ; what was their practice in carry- 
ing out his command ; and what were their own 
teachings and instructions concerning it." 

"And first what means had they for under- 
standing our Lord ? He commanded, ' Go and 
baptize.' What did they know of baptism ? 
Had they ever seen or heard of it before ? " 



John's baptism. 27 

"Oh yes," said Mary, "two of them at least, 
perhaps more, had been disciples' of John the 
Baptist (John 1 : 35) ; and Christ himself had 
been baptized by him. Of course, all of them 
must have been familiar with John's baptism." 

" Very good," said Joseph. " And this brings 
us directly to John's baptism as the inspired pat- 
tern of the ordinance ; and this we know was by 
immersion." 

"But, father," objected Mary, "John's bap- 
tism was not Christian baptism, was it? I 
thought it was a mere preparatory rite belonging 
to the old dispensation, and no part of Christi- 
anity proper." 

"No matter, now," said her father. "We 
may go to it to find out what was the thing to be 
done, whether it was to be done for the same 
purpose or not. Arthur amputates a leg, to 
study its anatomy. Suppose his Professor should 
send him to amputate the leg of a living person. 
The object would be different, the circumstances 
and results would all be different, still he might 
refer to the former to show what the doctor 
meant in giving the order." 

" Well then," said Mary, laughing, "let us for 
once 'go down to Jordan,' as Aunt Emily so 



28 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

often says, and see what was done there. Nellie, 
will you please read us the account." 

'' Which shall I read? " said the latter. It is 
found, I believe, in each of the four Gospels." 

" It does not matter which," said Mr. Stanley. 

Miss Ashton read the account in the third 
chapter of Matthew. As she finished, Joseph 
remarked, 

"There, you perceive how it was — 'And 
were baptized of him in Jordan.' Manifestly by 
immersion in the river." 

" We shall see as to that presently," said Mr. 
Stanley. " Let me call your attention to another 
thing first, the great multitudes who came for this 
purpose. Please read that verse again. Miss 
Nellie." 

She read : '' Then went out to him Jerusalem, 
and all Judaea, and all the region round about 
Jordan." 

" Now," continued the pastor, '' Jerusalem was 
at this time in its palmiest days, having been 
re-built, enlarged and beautified by Herod the 
Great. Think of its vast population ; think of 
the innumerable cities and villages of Palestine, 
the ruins of which meet the traveler even now, 
on almost every square mile of its territory. 



John's baptism. 29 

Remember what mighty armies were raised here 
for its protection ; recall the fact that at the seige 
of Jerusalem alone, which occurred only about 
forty years later, Josephus says one million, one 
hundred thousand Jews perished. There was a 
part of Persea beside, east of the river — for the 
language is ' all the region round about Jordan.' 
I do not know what the aggregate number of 
such a population was, but it must have been 
very great, — several milUons, at least. And I 
was thinking if John had to immerse them all 
one by one in the river, what a task the poor man 
had ! " 

" But you do not suppose, Mr. Stanley, that 
every man, woman, and child of that great popu- 
lation were baptized, do you ? " asked Nellie. 

''No, I presume not. We are to take the 
statement in a common sense way. The sick, 
the aged, the crippled, etc., must be excepted. 
So, for various reasons, must many others. In- 
deed, I would be willing to take the expression 
as a general one, meaning simply the greater part 
of the people, or more simply still a very great 
number, but even so the difficulty remains ; John 
could not have performed the task." 

" It has been suggested," said Arthur, '' that it 



30 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

is not meant that all the people of those places 
went to him, but some ixoxo. all places ; so that all 
had, so to speak, a representation there." 

'' But Mark," replied Mary, '' says it was ' they 
of Jerusalem,' that is the people, and ' they were 
all baptized of him.' Luke says also that ' all 
the people were baptized,' and that they were 'a 
multitude.' " 

" Well, not to press the matter too closely, it 
is evident that there was a very great number. 
Robert Hall, the eminent English Baptist, admits 
that it was ' a prodigious multitude.' (vol. 1 : 
page 361.) Suppose we call it half a million. 
John's ministry, before Herod put him in prison, 
lasted not more than eighteen months ; probably 
less. Now to have immersed so many in that 
time would have been more than two every 
minute, for eight hours a day, for that whole 
period — which I venture to pronounce a simple 
impossibility. No man could have strength to do 
it ; and besides, just think of him as standing 
waist deep in the river eight hours a day for 
eighteen months together ! " 

'' But," replied Joseph, " you are not sure he 
did stand in the water. He may have stood upon 
the shore, while he immersed the people." 



John's baptism. 31 

'^ That is a mere guess, which, after all, will 
not relieve the difficulty. The task so performed 
would have been so much the harder. It might 
have been easy enough to thrust them in, but to 
lift them out again would have been another 
thing. Let us try to take a common sense view 
of the matter, if possible." 

'' But Robert Hall thinks that John did not 
perform the work alone," said Joseph. "He 
may have had assistants. Jesus also baptized, 
but he did it through his disciples." John 4 : 2. 

" Which conjecture is only a confession that 
otherwise it could not have been done." 

'' Besides," added Arthur, ''that fact respect- 
ing Christ is expressly told us, while nothing of 
the sort is said of John. It is positively said, 
they were all baptized by him.^'' Mark 1:5. 

'' True," rephed his father. ''And we ought 
not to resort to guesses when we undertake to 
unchurch all others for not agreeing with us. 
Looking now at the thing all round, in a plain, 
common sense way, I cannot resist the conclusion 
that the baptism by John of all those multitudes 
by immersion was just an impossibility. That, 
then,* is one thing about baptism which I regard 
as settled. It could not have been done without 
a miracle." 



32 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

"Yet we read that John did no miracle," 
quietly observed Nellie. 

" That is true, Miss Ashton ; but for him to 
have endured such a labor and such a soaking for 
eighteen months together, and Iiave escaped 
alive, would have been a stupendous miracle." 

" Then there is the question of the clothes," 
suggested Arthur. 

" What is that ? " asked Mary. 

"Why, the garments they were baptized in. 
Where do you suppose they obtained a sufficient 
supply of baptismal robes. Aunt Emily ? " 

" Oh, it was a warm climate, you know, and 
they would not have needed much clothing," re- 
plied Mrs. Mason. 

"But they would have wanted some," per- 
sisted Mary. "We cannot suppose them to have 
gone into the river, with their ordinary clothes 
on, and then sat in the sun on the bank to dry. 
Neither did they bring changes of garments with 
them for that purpose." 

" In whatever light you look at it," said Mr. 
Stanley, " you see the difficulty. I know of no 
way in which it can be avoided or diminished. 
To my own mind it seems sufficient to decide the 
whole question. Here, at the outset, in the very 



John's baptism. 33 

origin and pattern, as many deem it, of our 
Christian rite we have a baptism, administered 
to vast multitudes of people, among them to our 
Lord himself, which, upon any rational view of 
it, could not have been done by immersion." 

" Why, then," asked Nellie, '' if John did not 
immerse these multitudes, did he go to the Jor- 
dan to baptize ? " 

'' If I remember rightly, it is nowhere said 
that he did go there for that purpose. He was 
in the wilderness, where he had always lived ; 
that was his home you know, (Luke 1: 80). 
The people came there to hear him preach, and 
being there^ in the vicinity of the Jordan, it was 
most convenient for him to baptize those who pro- 
fessed penitence, in or at that river. Baptism 
was always performed where the person to be 
baptized happened to be, in the house, in the 
prison, at a fountain by the roadside, or at a 
neighboring stream." 

" It seems to me," observed Arthur, " that in 
judging of events occurring in other times and 
countries, we are apt to be misled by inferences 
from circumstances or habits with which we are 
familiar. To read of a baptism now adminis- 
tered in or at a river or lake would convey the 



84 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

idea that it was performed by immersion, because 
water is every where so abundant, and the facili- 
ties for administration so great, that we natur- 
ally infer that none would take the trouble to go 
to such a place but for that special purpose." 

" Your observation, my son, is quite just. I 
have no doubt that this unconscious inference in 
multitudes of cases is what determines the whole 
question. 'John baptized in Jordan,' they say; 
' therefore he immersed ; therefore immersion only 
is baptism.' " 

'' But what else could have caused him to re- 
sort to the river ? " asked Nellie. 

" You forget that such vast numbers of peo- 
ple, many of them coming from a considerable 
distance, with their asses and camels, which were 
used for riding and carrying tents and other 
equipage, would have required large supplies 
even for drinking. They would need also water 
for cooking, and performing the numerous ablu- 
tions prescribed by their ceremonial law. ' For 
the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash 
their hands oft, eat not.' (Mark 7:3). The 
country though not strictly a desert was very 
sparsely settled, and there were but few wells or 
cisterns which could afford* it, and during a 



JOHN'S BAPTISM. 35 

large part of the year the fountains and rivulets 
were wholly dry." 

" Yes," said Mary, " and you know Nellie, that 
even in this country, where we have water 
enough every where, one of the first things 
thought of in selecting a place for a military en- 
campment, a cattle show, a camp meeting, or 
any large gathering of the people, is to find a 
spot near some stream or lake that shall afford a 
plentiful supply of this indispensable article. So 
you see as clear as day — at least I do, — that 
the fact that John resorted to the Jordan as the 
scene of his labors, is no proof that he performed 
his baptisms solely or at all by immersion." 

'' But it is expressly said that they went down 
into the river," urged Joseph. 

''Is it?" replied Mr. Stanley. ''I was not 
aware of the fact. Do you find such a statement 
any where. Miss Nellie ? " 

''No, I think not," answered the latter, after 
some little looking. 

" Well, at any rate, it is -said that he baptized 
ill Jordan, and that implies that he went in," said 
Joseph. 

" Not quite," returned his uncle, smiling. " I 
saw a few days since, some Dutch women wash- 



86 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

ing clothes in the Hudson, but they had not gone 
into the stream for that purpose. Besides, it is 
said that ' John did baptize in the wilderness.' 
Does this imply that he thrust persons beneath 
the sand and dust of the desert? " 

^' It is said that Christ, after his baptism, went 
up straightway out of the water," remarked Miss 
Ashton. Matt. 3: 16. 

'' True, but it would have been more correct 
to have read from. The Greek preposition em- 
ployed here-, is not the same that is used in the 
case of the eunuch. Prof. Stuart, whose critical 
judgment on such a point cannot be questioned, 
says, ' I have found no example where it — apo — 
is applied to indicate a movement out of a liquid 
into the air. To designate emerging from any 
thing that is liquid, I have never found it ap- 
phed.' (Bib. Rep. vol. 3 ; page 320). Further the 
verb, anahaino^ will not admit that signification. 
It means to go up^ to ascend^ as in ascending the 
bank of a river. 'As to emerging from the 
water,' says Stuart, ' I can find no such meaning 
attached to it.' " 

'' After all, I am not inclined to insist on these 
minute points of construction. The Greek prep- 
ositions, eis^ en, apo, and eh, as every Greek 



JOHN'S BAPTISM. 37 

scholar knows, are quite flexible in their use, a 
great deal depending upon the connection and 
construction of the sentences in which they 
stand. Of themselves, they are not a sufficient 
ground to re»t any important doctrine upon, 
much less one involving the unity of the church 
of Christ. For one, I have no objection to con- 
cede that John and those who were to be bap- 
tized did go into the river, and that the baptism 
was performed in the river. But this is far from 
saying that they were immersed. In that coun- 
try and climate, with the prevailing habits of 
dress, one of the easiest ways of getting access 
to the water would be to step with the unsan- 
daled feet into the margin of the stream. But 
neither this, nor the subsequent return was any 
part of the baptism. Standing thus in the 
water, anlde- or possibly knee-deep, the liquid 
was taken up in the hand or a dish, and poured 
or sprinlded upon the head of the recipient. 
That this was the view of the matter held inlthe 
early Christian Church, is apparent from the rep- 
resentations of Christ's baptism given in an- 
cient pictures and sculptures. (See pp. 252 to 
259). Or what is more probable, in the baptism 
of these great multitudes, they were arranged 



38 ~ THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

along the shore, and sprinkled by John with a 
bunch of hyssop, or something similar, as Moses 
sprinkled the vast congregation of Israel at the 
foot of Mt. Sinai. Heb. 9 : 19." 

'' Oh, I never thought of that event in this 
connection ! " exclaimed Mary. " But that was 
not a baptism, was it ? " 

" No, not Christian baptism, but it was never- 
theless a baptism, and is distinctly referred to by 
that name, with many other Jewish washings, in 
the Epistle to the Hebrews. But letting that 
pass for the present, you see how such an act 
could be done easily and appropriately. The 
number of the Israelites exceeded two millions, 
yet it is expressly said that Moses sprinkled them 
all. Heb. 9:19." 

" I see it, I see it ! " exclaimed Mary, Avith en- 
thusiasm. "It is perfectly clear to me now. 
. Don't you think so. Auntie ? " 

" Yes, my dear, I have no doubt it is perfectly 
clear to yoii^ as you say, and indeed j^our father 
has succeeded in putting the matter in a plausi- 
ble hght, I confess. But I cannot share all your 
enthusiasm, and I am too old a Baptist to be 
persuaded that John the Baptist, of all men, bap- 
tized the people that came to him by sprinJding !^^ 



John's baptism. 39 

'' Not only do I think so, Aunt Emily," said 
Mr. Stanley, '' but I suspect if we should exam- 
ine carefully we should find that the very rite 
Avhich John was now administering in the Jor- 
dan, the ' baptism of repentance,' as it was called, 
if traced back to its original source required 
sprinkling." 

'' You surprise me greatly, sir," said Joseph, 
'' by such a statement. What, pray, do you re- 
gard as the source of that rite ? " 

'' You will have observed that there are no in- 
dications that either John or the people regarded 
it as anything new, at least in form. They made 
no inquiries about it, as they would if not 
already familiar with it. Neither did the call to 
repentance which he was commissioned to ad- 
dress to the nation, differ essentially, in its na- 
ture, from similar messages which had been sent 
to them through the earlier prophets. The oc- 
casion indeed was new, the near approach of Hhe • 
kingdom of heaven ' and the necessity of prepar- 
ing for it. But repentance was the same thing it 
had ever been, and the symbol of forgiveness 
and cleansing one with which the nation had 
long been familiar. David, a thousand years be- 
fore, had cried out in contrition of spirit, ' Wash 



40 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

me thoroughly from mine iniqmty and cleanse 
me from my sin. For I acknowledge my trans- 
gressions, and my sin is ever before me. Purge 
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me, 
and I shall be whiter than snow. (Ps. 51 : 3, 7.) 
And Isaiah, ' Wash ye ; make you clean ; put 
away the evil of your doings from before mine 
eyes ; cease to do evil ; learn to do well.' (1 : 16, 
27). And Jeremiah, ' For though thou wash 
thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet 
thine iniquity is marked before me," saith the 
Lord God. (2 ; 22.) 

'' Now these rites of washing and cleansing 
were prescribed in the ancient law. They were 
of various kinds, by blood, by oil, and by water, 
or water mixed with ashes, and in all cases when 
administered to persons they were to be per- 
formed by anointing, pouring, or sprinkling — the 
latter often with a bunch of hyssop — but ]^ever 
BY IMMERSION. And this fact had become so 
familiar to the nation that all their thoughts and 
utterances respecting penitence and forgiveness 
and cleansing spontaneously shaped themselves 
in this mold. It became, in their view, the 
natural way to express them. When, therefore, 
John appeared preaching repentance, he would 



JOHN'S BAPTISM. 41 

of course, apart from any special suggestions of 
the prophetic Spirit, fix on this ancient mode of 
purification, divinely appointed, practiced by the 
nation for fifteen hundred years, and inwrought 
into all the devoutest utterances of the most holy 
men. And how readily would the nation thus 
trained recognize its import and its propriety, 
and receive it, when satisfied of the authenticity 
of his mission, as the legitimate expression of 
penitence and purification, never wondering at it, 
needing no explanation of it, but even seeing in 
it a new evidence that God had still respect to 
the rites he had appointed, and the law which, 
for fifteen centuries, had been a covenant be- 
tween him and his people." 

" But do I understand you to say," asked 
Nelhe, " that these purifying rites were never 
performed by immersion? Were not persons 
often commanded to wash their clothes and bathe 
themselves in water? " 

'' I mean that the officiating priest was never 
commanded to immerse anybody, or any thing. 
Possibly I should make an exception in case of 
articles taken as spoil in time of war, (Num. 31 : 
23) ; though it is not said that this should be 
done by the priest. As to the general word 



42 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

'wash' we all know that it does not necessarily 
mean immersion.^ Many persons now wash them- 
selves all over, every day, yet few do it, I think, 
in a plunge bath. Individuals, either before or 
after the official act of the priest, washed their 
clothes and their persons, privately, as decency 
required, and this they may have done by dip- 
ping, or rinsing, or pouring, or scrubbing, or any 
other convenient way. If they immersed them- 
selves, which unless in the near proximity of a 
river or public pool, was probably not often done, 
as we have no account of private baths sufficient 
for the purpose, it was because of the conve- 
nience or the luxury, and not because it was re- 
quired. The only washing enjoined upon or ever 
performed by an official administrator, was done 
by s]jrinkUng or pouring, I believe, therefore, 
that John must have performed his baptism in 
the same way. With such a memorable and il- 
lustrious example before him, of cleansing great 
multitudes of persons by sprinkhng, as that per- 
formed by Moses at the foot of Mt. Sinai, I can- 



i"We find no example among all the Levitical washings or ablu- 
tions where immersion of the person is required. The word rachatz 
which is almost uniformly employed, and which our translators have 
rendered wash and bathe, does not imply immersion." Prof. Stuart, 
in Bib. Rep. vol. 3 : page 341. . 



John's baptism. 43 

not conceive why John should have ever thought 
of any other way, nor do I see how any other 
was possible." 

" You have constructed a very plausible theory, 
Uncle, I admit," said Joseph. " But if John's 
baptism was simply one of the ancient rites of 
purification, why was it not sometimes called pu- 
rification? " 

" It was, I think," replied Mr. Stanley. " Please 
turn to John 3 : 25, and read to us. Miss Nellie." 

She did so. " Then there arose a question be- 
tween some of John's disciples and the Jews^ 
about purifying." 

" Oh, I never knew what that meant," said 
Mary. " Had it anything to do with this sub- 
ject?" 

" We shall see," said her father. '' Precisely 
the nature of the dispute is not stated, but it 
was clearly something growing out of the two 
baptisms which Jesus and John were then ad- 
ministering. Perhaps John's disciples were jeal- 
ous of the growing popularity of this new teacher 
as securing a greater number of converts than 
their master, who a little while before had had 



The best critical authorities read "a Jew.'' 



44 THE MODE OP BAPTISM. 

all Palestine running after him. Whatever the 
trouble was, it was something growing out of 
this matter of baptism, and this the Evangelist 
calls a ' question about purifying,'' Plainly, then, 
it was regarded as one of the purificatory wash- 
ings with which they were so familiar. It does 
not seem to have awakened any question as to 
its form, as it certainly would have done from 
those who were such sticklers for prescribed 
forms, had it differed in any respect from ancient 
and recognized usage." 

''I think," said Nellie, " that the Pharisees had 
at first denied, or at least questioned, John's 
authority to baptize, had they not ? " 

'' Yes," replied Mr. Stanley, '^ and that re- 
minds me tha^ this is another of the facts which 
strongly confirm the view I have taken of its 
nature and form. Have you the passage before 
you ? " 

'' Yes, it is in John 1 : 19-27." 

'' It had been predicted," said Mr. Stanley, 
" that the Messiah would come as a Purifier. 
'Who,' exclaimed Malachi, (3: 2) 'may abide 
the day of his coming, and who shall stand when 
he appeareth ? For he is like a refiner's fire and 
like fuller's soap ; and he shall sit as a refiner and 



John's baptism. 45 

purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of 
Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that 
they may offer unto the Lord an offering in right- 
eousness.' This was the very latest utterance of 
the prophets concerning the promised ' hope of 
Israel,' and one on which the eye of the nation 
must have specially rested during all the time 
preceding its fulfillment. When John, therefore, 
came calling the people to repentance, and ad- 
ministering the well known rite of purification, 
it was natural for the Pharisees to inquire 
whether he claimed to be the Messiah, the ex- 
pected Purifier. Upon his replying in the nega- 
tive, they asked, ' Why haptizest thou then ? ' 
That is, if you are not the Purifier that has been 
promised us, why do you purify ? They recog- 
nized the nature and form of the rite, but could 
not understand why he should undertake to ad- 
minister it in such a conspicuous and extraordi- 
nary manner, unless he claimed also to be the 
Messiah, whose special prerogative it was to be." 
'' All this seems very plain," remarked Arthur, 
" and I don't see what can be said against it. I 
confess I always had a sort of feeling that this 
baptism of John was one of the Baptists' strong- 
est arguments in favor of their views, but I 



46 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

begin to think it is one of the strongest against 
them." 

" I think so, too," replied his father. '' And 
there is one thing more which completes and 
crowns the argument, and that is the close con- 
nection and parallelism between it and the bap- 
tism of the Holy Spirit." 

" But the baptism of the Spirit was not a 
literal baptism at all," replied Joseph. " It was 
only figuratively such, so called because of its co- 
piousness, which, as it were, immersed one in an 
ocean of divine grace. All our ministers agree 
that it was a figurative immersion." Carson, 
page 87. 

" Oh, cousin, you surely are not in earnest ! " 
exclaimed Mary. " Immersion in the Holy 
Ghost! What a shocking, I had almost said, 
what a blasphemous idea ! " 

" I am aware that such is the Baptist view of 
the matter," said her father. " However, we 
Avill not dispute as to that now ; we shall have 
another occasion to consider it by-and-by. But 
certainly the form divinely chosen to exhibit that 
baptism to men was not that of immersion, but of 
outpouring. John's baptism symbolized this, as 
the less symbolizes the greater. How natural, not 



JOHN'S BAPTISM. 47 

to say how essential to an emblem that it should 
resemble that which it represents ! Such was the 
case with all the types and shadows of the cere- 
monial law ; so far as material things could re- 
semble spiritual things, they were made to show 
that resemblance in their form. Indeed the very 
word type means this, — having the form of the 
antitype. So Paul calls the tabernacle and all 
the Mosaic rites ' patterns ' and ' figures ' of 
heavenly things. (Heb. 9 ; 23, 24.) Had John 
said, ' I plunge you into water, but he that cometh 
after me will pour upon you the Holy Ghost,' 
where were the point and power of the antithe- 
sis ? But if he said ' I indeed pour upon you 
clean water, but he shall pour upon you the Holy 
Ghost,' would not the symbol and the language 
lend to each other mutual and greatly augmented 
impressiveness and force ? It seems to me in the 
very worst taste, — not impiety, as Mary would 
almost esteem it — for I do not believe our good 
brethren, th(B Baptists, mean any such thing, — 
but certainly bad taste to thrust in another figure 
so entirely incongruous, to destroy the whole 
grace and effect of this beautiful parallelism." 

The whole party remained bilent for a few 
moments, as if much impressed with the elo- 



48 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

quence and force of the pastor's remarks. At 
length Mary spoke : — 

" You have certainly put all this matter of 
John's baptism in a new light to me. I don't 
know what can be said in reply to it. Come, 
cousin Joseph, what do you think ? Does ' si- 
lence give consent ' ? You let father do the talk- 
ing and have almost nothing to say. Why is it — 
do tell us ? Is it because you have nothing to 
say ? " 

'' The truth is," replied Joseph, '^ that I have 
been so much surprised, not to say interested in 
some of the positions he has advanced, that I 
hardly felt like replying at all. I certainly shall 
not yet assent to them. Indeed, I may as well 
own that I am not quite satisfied with this mode 
of discussing the subject. We ought to have 
begun with ascertaining the meaning of the word 
haptizo^ and having settled its meaning in classic 
usage, we should have had a sure key to its import 
in the New Testament. But in this way of rea- 
soning the very postulates, or first principles of 
the argument, are denied us." 

''That is," said Mr. Stanley, " you would in- 
sist on going to Homer and Aristotle to explain 
Jesus Christ ; you would make heathenism, and 



johk's baptism. 49 

not the law, our schoolmaster to bring us to him. 
I cannot think this will be recognized by plain 
people as a common sense way of proceeding. 
However, in its proper place, I will not refuse 
to accompany you to that school. We certainly 
are not afraid to inquire there for any light they 
have. Meanwhile, in closing tliis view of John's 
baptism at Jordan, there is one remark of some 
importance I wish to make, in the Avay of an in- 
ference from what has been said. It is to call 
your attention to the impropriety of the phrase 
our Baptist brethren so constantly use about 
^following Christ into the water,' or 'into the 
hquid grave.' " 

''Why, Mr. Stanley, do you not think we may 
follow the example of our Lord in his baptism ? " 
inquired Nellie. 

"Perhaps we may in the fact of his baptism, 
but it will not be the same baptism, nor received 
for the same reason." 

"You mean, I suppose, that his was not Ohris- 
tian baptism ? " said Joseph. 

" I do," was the reply. 

"What!" said Mrs. Mason, "not Christian 
baptism, when it was administered to Christ 
himself?" 



50 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

'' No, ma'am ; not any more than his circum- 
cision and keeping the passover were Christian 
rites. For, in the first place. Christian baptism 
as an ordinance of the gospel which we are to 
observe was not then instituted, nor was it done 
till after our Lord's crucifixion, three and a. half 
years later. (Matt. 28: 19; Mark 16: 16). 
Secondly, it had not the same meaning. It de- 
noted simply repentance and a belief that the 
Messiah was about to come. (Acts 19:4.) It 
implied no faith in anything peculiarly and dis- 
tinctively Christian, such as the doctrine of the 
Trinity, the incarnation of Christ, his teaching 
and miracles, his atoning death, his resurrection 
and ascension, and the dispensation of the Spirit. 
It was simply a preparatory rite, — something 
leading to the door of the ' kingdom of heaven,' 
but not within that kingdom. Hence it was that 
Paul rebaptized the twelve disciples of John, 
whom he met at Ephesus. (Acts 19 : 1-7). He 
found that they had never heard that there was 
such a thing as the Holy Ghost, showing that 
John did not baptize in the name of the Trinity. 
Now these were evidently good men, but they 
were not properly Christians. After Paul had 
explained the matter to them, they saw the de- 



JOHN'S BAPTISM. 51 

fectiveness of the baptism they had received, 
though it was the very same that Chiist him- 
self had received, and were then rebaptized in 
the name of Jesus. So that if you were to fol- 
low Christ's example literally, and be baptized 
with his baptism, you would still be as far short 
of Christianity as these Ephesian disciples were, 
and need, as they did, to be baptized over again 
with a Christian baptism." 

'' What do 3^ou think then, sir, was the reason 
that Christ was baptized at all ? " inquired Nel- 
lie. " He did not need the baptism of repent- 
ance, did he ? " 

" Certainly not, and for this reason John at 
first declined to administer it. But he was a 
Jew, as yet in a private and unofficial capacit^^, 
and of course when his nation was summoned by 
the prophet to the reception of that rite prepara- 
tory to the coming of the new kingdom of 
heaven, he felt it his duty to obey, as any other 
man would. ' It becometh us,' said he, ' to ful- 
fill all righteousness ; ' that is, everything re- 
quired of the nation. In the same way, he was 
circumcised, and kept the passover, and paid his 
taxes. As a sinless being he needed neither of 
the former, and as Lord of the temple might 



62 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

rightfully haye pleaded exemption from the latter. 
(Matt. 17 : 25). But he must honor the message 
sent to his people by God's prophet, and render, 
as a man, a perfect man's obedience in all re- 
spects." 

'^ I have heard it asserted," said Joseph, " that 
Christ in his baptism was consecrated to the 
priesthood, and therefore must be sprinkled as 
the Jewish priests were required to be. (Ex 29 : 
4, 21.) But certainly this was not the case. He 
was not a priest in any ordinary sense. He never 
claimed to be, nor was he regarded as such by his 
disciples, or by the people generally. He called 
himself and was called by them a prophet. (Luke 
7 : 14 ; 13 : 33 ; John 7 : 40.) Nay, he could not 
have been a priest, because he was not of the 
priestly tribe, Levi, but of the tribe of Judah, as 
Paul so elaborately argues in the seventh chapter 
of Hebrews. How idle is it then to say that the 
righteousness which Christ wished to fulfill in his 
baptism was the law requiring a priest to be con- 
secrated by sprinkling I " 

" I think you are right, so far," said Mr. Stan- 
ley, "• and I never like to hear that argument 
used. In any true sense in which Christ was a 
priest, he was made such ' not after the law of a 



John's baptism. 63 

carnal commandment, but after the power of an 
endless life.' (Heb 7 : 16.) Still, in a higher 
sense, Christ was a priest, a ' great High Priest ' 
after the order of Melchisedec, that is a kingly 
priest without predecessors or successors; and 
into this he was inducted at his baptism "by John, 
but hy the baptism of the- Holy Ghost, which fol- 
lowed and crowned that act of obedience." 

" But that, after all," said Arthur, " is about 
the same argument, only put in a different way. 
As the Jewidi priests must be ' consecrated to 
their office by washing and sprinkling, so Christ 
was inducted into his office by the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost, which was a descent upon him, ^. e, 
a pouring or sprinkling from above. It was not 
literally obeying the law for the consecration of 
priests, but it was the fulfillment of that of which 
the law was a type and a promise." 

'' Your remark is very just, my son," replied 
Mr. Stanley. '' And nov/ there is one thing more 
that I wish to say about John's baptism, and 
then we must close our conversation unless we 
would fatigue Aunt Emily, for I fear we have 
stayed too long already. It is about his baptiz- 
ing at iEnon ' because there was much water 
there.' " John 3 : 23. 



64 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" But that cannot prove immersion," said 
Mary, ''if the baptism in Jordan does not." 

''True," said her father. "The matter is of 
httle consequence, only because we so often hear 
it referred to by Baptists, as if alone sufficient to 
decide the whole question. ' Why,' they ask, 
' should the existence of much water at JEnon be 
made a reason for his baptizing there unless he 
wanted it for- immersion ? ' " 

"I should say, evidently," remarked Mary, 
" because it would, like the Jordan, accommodate 
the people that resorted there. But where was 
^non, father?" 

" That is not certainly known. The word 
signifies the ' Springs,' and may have been given 
to it for the same reason that we often speak of 
Saratoga as the ' Springs,' because there were sev- 
eral springs there, which in the East would make 
it of course an important locality. The original 
words translated ' much water ' are literally 
' many waters,' that is, streams or rills running 
from the fountains. Dr. Robinson found a Salim 
to the east of Nabulus, the ancient Sychar, at 
which are two copious springs, and near to this 
he supposes jEnon to have been. John seems to 
have removed thither from Bethabara (or Betha- 



JOHN'S BAPTISM. 55 

nia) on the Jordan (John 1 : 28) for the purpose 
of accommodating the people who lived in that 
part of the country." 

" But Dr. Hague," said Joseph, '' refers to 
Rev. 14 : 2, where the same words, ' many- 
waters ' denote the ' deep-sounding sea.' " (Reply 
to Cooke and Towne.) 

" What if they did ? " said Mary. " He don't 
pretend there was any such ' deep-sounding sea ' 
at ^non, does he ? The roaring of the waves of 
the ocean under a storm, may by a bold, poetic 
figure be well styled ' the voice of many waters ' ; 
but what has that to do with, the simple historical 
statement that John went to the ' Springs ' to 
perform his ministry because there were many 
flowing rills or brooks there ? One thing is cer- 
tain : he did not go to find a river, a lake, or a 
sea, for the plain reason that no such thing was 
there." 

" The expression, ' many waters,' " added Mr. 
Stanley, ''is the same that is found in 2 Chron. 
82: 3, 4, where it is said that King Hezekiah 
stopped up the ' waters of the fountains ' which 
were without Jerusalem, saying, ' Why should 
the^kings of Assyria come and find much water ? ' 
^. ^., supplies for their invading army. In Ezek. 



56 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

19 : 10, it denotes the little rills tliat water gar- 
dens. In Jer. 61 : 13; it apparently refers to the 
numerous sluices and canals used for irrigating 
the plain around Babylon. Surely, to make im- 
mersion out of this expression in the passage be- 
fore us, is to build up a large edifice out of very 
small materials." 

''And now our conclusion for the evening is 
this : that the apostles to whom the commission 
to baptize was first given, having some of them 
been baptized by John, and having all seen and 
been familiar with his baptism, would inevitably, 
in the absence of all explanation, understand that 
the rite was to be administered in the same way. 
If he did it by sprinkling, after the general pat- 
tern of the Mosaic purifications, as I think has 
been proved to all reasonable apprehension, then 
they would infer that the Lord meant they should 
do the same. And now vdien shall we meet 
again? " 

'-' Will to-morrow evening be too soon, Aunt 
Emily ? " said Mary. 

'' No. Suit your own convenience," replied that 
lady. 

And the session closed with that understand- 
ing. 



DIVEKS BAPTISMS. 67 



CHAPTER III. 

DIYERS BAPTISMS. 

PROMPT as the stroke of the clock was the 
appearance of our friends in Mrs. Mason's 
sitting-room the next evening. 

No long time was spent in preliminaries. The 
party gathered about the table as before, and 
Mary inquired, — 

" Who will tell just where we were when we 
closed last evening ? " 

'' I think," said Arthur, " we were considering 
what means the apostles, who first received the 
commission to baptize, had of understanding it. 
Father's first reply was that they had themselves 
been baptized by John the Baptist, which opened 
the question as to the mode in which that bap- 
tism was administered. From the arguments he 



58 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

advanced, I for one was satisfied that it was done 
by sprinkling, not immersion." 

'^ But that was not their only means of knowl- 
edge," said Joseph. '' I would like here to sug- 
gest another of a different sort, — which you may 
if you please consider as a second. I refer to the 
fact that they must have been famihar with the 
baptism of proselytes on their reception to Juda- 
ism ; and this, as we are expressly assured by the 
Jewish Rabbins, was done by immersion." 

'' I am glad you refer to that subject," said Mr. 
Stanley. " If you have it fresh in your mind, 
please present the facts as you understand 
them." 

" I have had but a short time to look into it to- 
day, but the results I have gathered are briefly 
these : The question whether the practice of 
baptizing proselytes prevailed in the time of John, 
is one on which scholars are not agreed. Emi- 
nent names are. found on both sides. The affirm- 
ative view is summarily stated by Prof. Alexan- 
der, of Scotland, under the following particulars. 
1. The positive and unanimous testimony of the 
Jewish Rabbins. 2. The fact that John's baptism 
was regarded as no new thing. 3. That the dis- 
pute, between John's disciples and a Jew about 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 59 

purifying, implied that they understood both 
Jesus and John as baptizing proselytes to their 
respective sects. 4. That Peter, on the day of 
Pentecost, addressing, among others, the prose- 
lytes, (Acts 2 : 10) exhorted them to repent and 
be baptized, implying that they were already 
acquainted with that rite. 6. That the Essenes 
wexe in the habit, according to Josephus, (War, 
2: 8. 7) of applying ' waters of purification ' to a 
convert to their sect. 6. That the same writer 
alludes to John's baptism, not as if John intro- 
duced it, but only gave to it a new meaning." 
Kitto, Bib. Cyclop. 

'^ But all these," observed Mary, ''except the, 
1st and 5th points, are substantially met by what 
father showed as to John's baptism. He did not 
claim it as anything new in its nature or form, 
but as springing out of the ancient ceremonial 
ritual. The same might be true with the baptism 
administered on the day of pentecost, which was 
now by the new commission made a Christian 
baptism. And I do not see why it is not equally 
reasonable to suppose that the Essenes derived 
their practice from the same source." 

" All this I may admit," replied Joseph, "but 
the first point will remain unshaken. The testi- 



60 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

mony of the Jewish Rabbins as to the existence 
of proselyte baptism at the time of John, is, as 
Prof. Alexander remarks, ' unanimous.' I may 
add, it is equally decisive as to the mode of that 
baptism. They affirm that the candidate must 
be plunged wholly under water ; that ' to leave 
one hand-breadth of his body unsubmerged would 
have vitiated the whole rite.' (Smith's Die. Vol. 
2: p. 943.) This simple statement, therefore, as 
it seems to me should be decisive. The Jews 
had long been in the habit of both circumcising 
and baptizing proselytes received to their faith ; 
of course, the apostles were familiar with the rite 
under that form, and would necessarily infer that 
their own commission was to be interpreted in the 
same way." 

''AH which, if true, would only prove that they 
had seen the rite administered in more than one 
form, which is equally fatal to the exclusive 
ground of our Baptist brethren," said Mr. Stan- 
ley. ''I am inclined to the belief that proselyte 
baptism did prevail at that time, and was admin- 
istered both to the converts and their children^ as 
the Rabbins with equal positiveness affirm, be- 
cause, as Dean Alford remarks, ' the baptism or 
lustration of a proselyte on admission would fol- 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 61 

low as a matter of course, by analogy from the 
constant legal practice of lustration after all un- 
cleannesses.' Com. on Matt. 3 : 6. 

"• Nor do I care to call in question the state- 
ment of the Rabbins that this was done by 
immersion, although their authority, as we shall 
presently see, is not of the best. There was a 
special reason why it should be, which would 
not exist in other cases. Will Miss Nellie please 
turn to Num. 31 : 21, and read the law as there 
recorded?" 

She did so. '''And Eleazar the priest said 
unto the men of war, which went to the battle. 
This is the ordinance of the law which the 
Lord commanded Moses. Only the gold, and the 
silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 
everytliing that may abide the fire, ye shall make 
it go through the fire and it shall be clean ; never- 
theless it shall be purified with the water of sep- 
aration : and all that abideth not the fire ye shall 
make to go through the water. ^ " 

" This," continued Mr. Stanley, " was a statute 
applicable to objects obtained in war as a spoil from 
the enemy. It is the only instance of a distinctly 
required immersion to be found in the law, and 
evidently implies that what was thus obtained 



62 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

from foreign sources was pre-eminently unclean, 
and needed an extraordinary purification. Now, 
by a not very harsh figure, a proselyte received 
from the Gentiles might be conceived of as spoil 
won from an enemy, and subjected to this special 
and extraordinary mode of cleansing. And this 
very provision of the law is evidence to my mind 
that such a baptism would not be practiced in 
other cases; that the Jews themselves, the very 
seed of Abraham, would not have submitted to a 
rite whether administered by John or the apos- 
tles which would class them with the heathen." 

'' That is self evident," remarked Arthur, 
'' and settles forever the objection so triumphant- 
ly urged by Baptists to the statement that the 
law never required a Jew to be immersed." 
Hague's Reply to Cooke and Towne. 

''There is another consideration," resumed Mr. 
Stanley. " The Rabbins describe with great par- 
ticularity the mode of baptizing converts prac- 
ticed in their day. But that was several centuries 
after the time of John. The Mishna was com- 
pleted about A. D. 220 and the two Talmuds 
from two to three centuries later. These affirm 
among other things that a proselyte was baptized 
naked, ' When the wound (from circumcision) 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 63 

was healed, he Avas stripped of all his clothes in 
the presence of the three witnesses who had 
acted as his teachers and who now acted as his 
sponsors, the " fathers" of the proselyte, and led 
into the tank or pool. As he stood there up to 
his neck in water, they repeated the great com- 
mandments of the law. These he promised and 
vowed to keep, and then, with an accompanying 
benediction he plunged under the water,' — that 
is, apparently, immersed himself. (Smith's Diet, 
vol, 2 : p. 943.) 

" Are we then to take this elaborate and cum- 
brous ceremonial — and I have cited to you but a 
small part of it — which may have been in use 
three centuries after Christ, as prevailing in all its 
fullness in the days of our Lord, and* infer that 
the apostles made it the pattern of the rite they 
were to administer ? If so, why is there no allu« 
sion to it in the New Testament ? Take any one 
of the instances of baptism recorded in the Acts, 
and where have you any thing like this, the three 
sponsors, the stripping naked, the Standing up to 
the neck in water, the repeating of the com- 
mandments and the self plunging at the end?" 

"- But," said Joseph, '* the testimony of the 
Rabbins as to the fact of immersion, affirms it 
not of their own day only, but of previous ages.'* 



64 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" Not any more of this than of the other cere- 
monies mentioned. Indeed it is this very claim 
of great antiquity for the practice which throws 
doubt over their whole testimony. They asserted 
that proselyte baptism was as old as the times 
of Jacob (Gen. 35 ; 2) and Moses (Ex. 19 ; 10), 
and even corrupted the Targum on Ex. 12 ; 44 
so as to read 'when thou hast circumcised and 
baptized him.' I suppose indeed they did just as 
partisans of a sect have always done in all re- 
ligions, 'carrying back to an earlier age,' as Pro- 
fessor Plumptre remarks, the rules and decisions 
of their own times to invest them with a higher 
degree of authority. Rabbi Maimonides, the 
great oracle of the Jews in matters of religion, 
and the author of an elaborate commentary on 
the Mishna, was a Spanish Jew of the twelfth cen- 
tury, and is probably as trustworthy an expositor 
of the practices of his people in the time of 
Christ, as a similarly eminent Roman Catholic 
doctor would be as to the rites and usages of the 
apostolic churches. Prof. Stuart says, ' There 
are so many narratives in the Talmud which are 
gross mistakes and ridiculous conceits, that one 
hardly feels himself safe in trusting to any of its 
statements respecting facts that happened long 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 65 

before the period when this book was written.' 
(Bib. Rep. vol. 3 : p. 352.) And Prof. Plumptre, 
' The precepts of the Talmud may indicate the 
practices and opinions of the Jews from the 
second to the fifth century. They are very un- 
trustworthy as to any other time.' Smith's Bib. 
Die. 

" Reviewing then the whole subject, we arrive 
at the decided probability that proselytes in 
the time of Christ were baptized in a manner 
conformable to the usual methods of ceremonial 
purification, as we have seen to be true of the 
baptism of John. Or if there was a special ex- 
ception in their case, it was in consequence of a 
special statute imposed because of their Gentile 
origin. But even this, let it be remembered, ex- 
pressly required them also to be ' purified with 
the water of separation' which, we know, was in 
all cases to be applied by sprinkling." Numb. 
19: 20. 

'' I think you have made this matter very 
plain, sir," said Nellie. ''The whole subject is 
evidently obscure, but so far as it can afford us 
any light, it seems to favor the view you have 
taken." 

" So I think," said Arthur, " and now what is 



66 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

your next point, father ? We are upon the ques- 
tion as to what means the apostles had for cor- 
rectly understanding the commission given them." 

" My next remark is that they were familiar 
with the Scriptures ^^^ replied Mr. Stanley. 

" That is, with the Old Testament," said Mary. 
'' But what light does that throw on Christian 
baptism ? " 

" A good deal, as we have already seen," re- 
plied her father. '' The Scriptures, were the 
text book of all knowledge to a Jew. They 
contained, first, the law with its minute directions 
on the subject of ritual purification. The twelve 
that were with Jesus had heard it read in the 
synagogues every Sabbath-day. Paul, that He- 
brew of the Hebrews, had studied it at the feet 
of Gamaliel. And if there were any two things 
which were identical in the mind of a Jew, as an 
idea and its outward sign, they were purifica- 
tion and SPRINKLING. Fourteen times are the 
words used in the law alone in this connection. 
And as they had read, so had they seen done in 
the temple. On the great day of expiation they 
had themselves gone tliither to confess their sins 
and to behold the blood of the victim sprinlded 
upon the altar in atonement for their sins. Let 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 67 

a people thus be trained, both by law and prac- 
tice, for fifteen hundred years, in this association 
of ideas, and they must necessarily, without 
special instruction to the contrary, on receiving 
a command to go forth and disciple the nations, and 
apply to them the symbol of moral cleansing, 
understand that it was to be done in like manner 
by sprinkling. 

'' Further, the Scriptures distinctly employ 
the word sprinkling to denote the peculiar effects 
of the new dispensation. Ezekiel, when pre- 
dicting the restoration of the nation to the 
divine favor, in the days of the Messiah, repre- 
sents Jehovah as saying, ' Then will I sprinkle 
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean ; 
from all your filthiness and from all your idols 
I will cleanse you. A new heart also will I give 
you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and 
I will take away the stony heart out of your 
flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh ' (Ezek. 
26 : 25, 26.). And in that most memorable pre- 
diction in Isa. 52: 53, the cleansing efficacy of 
his death is thus described. ' As many were as- 
tonished at thee, (his visage was so marred more 
than any man, and his form more than the sons 
of men), so shall he sprinkle many nations,' etc. 



68 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

I do not suppose there is here any distinct refer- 
ence to the rite of Christian baptism, but only 
to the general idea that by his death, and espe- 
cially by the dispensation of the Spirit, the 
nations should obtain a moral purification." 

" But you must be aware," interposed Joseph, 
"that the Septuagint version in this place instead 
of 'sprinkle,' reads 'shall be astonished,' making 
a correlative with ' were astonished ' in the first 
clause ; the idea being that as they should won- • 
der at seeing his humiliation, so they should still 
more wonder at beholding his glory. Evidently 
this makes a smoother sentence and better sense. 
Gesenius understands it as meaning ' to exult ' ; 
{. e. he shall cause many nations to leap for joy." 

"I am aware of this criticism," said Mr. 
Stanley, " but the weight of authority is against 
it. The word occurs some twenty times in the 
Old Testament, and in every other place it is 
translated sprinkle. Besides, it is a canon of 
criticism that as between two readings, one easy 
and the other dijBficult, the latter, other things 
being equal, is to be preferred, since it is more 
likely that if any change had been improperly 
made in the text, it would be from the latter to 
the former, than vice versa." 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 69 

" Again, the apostles, if they read in the Septu- 
agint version of the Scriptures, as from their quo- 
tations in the Gospels and Epistles is evident, 
must have found the word baptizo used there in 
connections which, as interpreted by their own 
law, would throw light on its meaning." 

''But why not ascertain first its classic mean- 
ing," interposed Joseph, '' the only true guide to 
its real signification ? " 

''Because," said Mr. Stanley, smiling at the 
persistency with which his nephew clung to that 
favorite artifice of the Baptists, "it is not the 
classic but the Scripture meaning we are after 
now. Probably the apostles knew nothing about 
the classics, but they had some clew to the mean- 
ing of their own Scriptures. 

" The first instance of its use is in 2 Kings 5 : 
14, which relates the cleansing of Naaman the 
Syrian, at the Jordan. The question here is, not 
how should we with our Gentile eyes read this 
narrative, but how would a Jew read it ? Here 
was a leper who was about to be cleansed of his 
leprosy. The prophet had commanded him, ' Go, 
wash' — lousai — a general word like our En- 
ghsh one, specifying no particular mode — ' seven 
times in Jordan.' Now no idea was more familiar 



70 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

to the Jewish mind than that of the cleansing of 
a leper. He was to be sprinkled seven times 
with the blood of a bird, to shave off all his hair, 
and to wash his clothes and his person with 
water. (Lev. 14: 7, 8). So the Jew reads, 
' And Naaman went down ' — hatehe — a word 
never signifying to go under water — ' and bap- 
tized himself in or at the Jordan seven times, ac- 
cording to the word of Elisha.' The sprinkling 
of the blood is omitted, peijiaps because Naaman 
was a Gentile, possibly because there was no 
priest present to do it. Now what idea would 
tliis Jew reader derive from this as to the precise 
thing that Naaman did, and what therefore was 
the meaning of the word to baptize ? " 

''But," said Joseph, ''we are told that the 
Hebrew word in this place is yitbol^ from tahal^ a 
word which does signify specifically to immerse." 

" I grant it," said Mr. Stanlej^ ; " but that was 
not what the law required, nor the prophet had 
commanded, for even in the Hebrew the direc- 
tion was not to immerse (tabal) but to wash Qra- 
chatz,^ The LXX. seem to have chosen the 
word ehaptisato with reference to the intent of 
the requirement rather than to be an exact verbal 
equivalent to the original. They meant to say 



PIVEPvS BAPTISMS. 71 

simply that Naaman did as he was bidden. Or 
we may interpret it with the learned Dr. Horner, 
thus: 'Accordingly he goes and dips into Jordan, 
and thereby obtains water which he dashes, 
sprinkles, or pours upon the spot seven times, 
with the intent and purpose oi being thereby 
cleansed. Now, since for this time tabal includes 
the whole of this complex idea, it is rendered for 
the first and only time in the Old Testament by 
baptizo^ since the action and effect was a literal 
baptism.' (Meth. Quar. Rev.) 

'' The next instances that I will cite occur in 
Dan. 4 : 33, and 5 : 21, where it is said that 
Nebuchadnezzar ' did eat grass as oxen, and his 
body was wet — ebapJie — with the dew of heaven.' 
It is true that the Greek word here used is from 
bapto^ and not baptizo^ the latter of which alone 
is applied to the Christian ordinance. But as the 
former is the root-verb from which the latter is 
derived, we may appropriately consult it as to 
the meaning of the derivative. The very state- 
ment of the fact shows here the import of the 
word. To be wet with the dews of heaven was 
to be suffused witli drops of water. The claim 
of an immersion in this instance is a simple ab- 
surdity." 



72 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" So I should think," exclaimed Mary. " Pray 
cousin Joseph, Avhat do jon say to it ? " 

" I must candidly acknowledge," he replied, 
'' that to make an immersion of this case is very 
difficult, but it is not impossible. Of course, it 
can be only figuratively such. Some think that 
the writer referred to the copiousness of the 
dews in that country, meaning to say that the 
monarch was as wet as if he had been dipped in 
dew. Dr. Carson, perhaps our most learned 
philologist, regards it as a rhetorical figure ^ used 
to enliven the style.' (p. 38.) ' Do we not,' says 
he, ' every day hear similar phraseology ? The 
man who, has been exposed to a summer-plump,' 
i. e. I suppose, a sudden shower, ' will say that he 
has got a complete dipping. This is the very ex- 
pression of Daniel. One mode of wetting is 
figured as another mode of wetting, by the liveli- 
ness of the imagination.' " 

''All of which," said Mr. Stanley, "is evidently 
a strained effort to sustain his own theory that 
this Greek word never means anything but im- 
mersion. It finds no warrant whatever in the 
narrative, which is a simple, unpoetic statement 
of the fact that the king, as a judgment from 
heaven for his pride, was driven by his insanity 



DIVEKS BAPTISMS. 73 

into the field and adopted the hfe of a beast, 
without shelter from the night-dews, till his hair 
and nails had grown long. It was not the quanti- 
ty of the wetting which was the important cir- 
cumstance, but the fact that he was an outcast 
from his palace. 

'' The next occurrence of haptizo in the Septua- 
gint is in Isa. 21 : 4 ; where, instead of ' fearful- 
ness affrighted me,' as it is in the English ver- 
sion, the Greek has ' iniq^uity baptizes me.' The 
figure is that of a heavy burden or deluge of 
waters falling upon and overwhelming the soul. 
Nothing but absolute violence can make out an 
immersion here. 

'' The book of Judith presents the next in- 
stance." 

'' But that was no part of the Bible, father, 
was it ? " asked Arthur. 

'' The Jews did not admit it and the other 
books known as the Apocrypha into their canon, 
because they had no Hebrew original, or because 
they were not regarded as inspired. They were 
however in the Septuagint, as they are in the 
Latin Vulgate, and would of course be familiar 
to those who read the Septuagint. That fact is^ 
sufficient for our present purpose, which is to 



74 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

ascertain the meaning of the word haptizo^ as the 
apostles had become accustomed to it in that 
venerable version. 

" In Judith 12 : 7 ; it is said that that lady 
' went out nightly to the valley of Bethulia, and 
baptized herself — ehaptizeto — in the camp at a 
fountain of water.' Bethulia, a fortified village 
in the north of Palestine, was besieged by an 
Assyrian army. Judith, a beautiful and pious 
widow, undertook its deliverance. Accompanied 
by her maid she goes to the enemy's camp and 
asks to be conducted to their general Holofernes. 
She offers to show him the approaches to the 
village, asking only that till he is ready to march 
she may go out into the valley to perform her 
ablutions, and to pray in the night. He grants 
her request, and she accordingly remains there 
three days, going each night to the valley, and 
washing herself at the fountain. These circum- 
stances show the unreasonableness of supposing 
that this washing was immersion. A refined, 
chaste woman, would not, if allowed, have thus 
exposed herself in a military camp ; she would 
not have washed in a fountain from which the 
soldiers obtained their supplies for drinking and 
cooking ; and the preposition epi^ translated ' at ' 
never means m." 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 75 

''And yet," said Mary, ''I suppose Dr. Carson 
insists that she did. Do tell lis, Joseph, how he 
makes it out." 

" I do not recollect precisely," said the latter,' 
" and I have not his book at hand." 

''I can tell you," replied her father. "The 
passage evidently troubles him. First he says 
she immersed herself in the fountain. After- 
wards he asks, ' Was it utterly impossible to have 
a conveniency for bathing near a fountain ? On 
the contrary was it not very probable that stone 
troughs or other vessels were usually provided at 
fountains for bathing and washing clothes ? ' 
Again, ' Even were it certain that at this fountain 
there was no such provision, might not some per- 
son have supplied her with a vessel? (p. 78.) 
' Was it not usual to have stone troughs at foun- 
tains for the purpose of watering cattle ? ' (p. 
456.) But notwithstanding all these supposi- 
tions, he finally comes back to the first position, 
that she actually immersed herself in the foun- 
tain. The fact that bands of soldiers were 
stationed to guard the fountain (ch. 7 : 7), does 
not stand in the way ; he sees nothing in this to 
make it indelicate for her thus to expose her- 
self." 



76 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" Oh brother," interrupted Mrs. Mason, '' you 
surely are not in earnest now ! No sensible man, 
— not to say no Christian minister, could insist 
'on such an unworthy position." 

'' Indeed, I am in sober earnest, as much so as 
any one can be in*relating the extravagant asser- 
tions of a man crazed by one idea. Nay, I have 
not told you all. ' I care not in the least 
degree,' says he, ' how any one may decide as to 
views of delicacy in this matter. However indel- 
icate any one may choose to consider the conduct 
of Judith, the fact is in proof, and I will not 
suffer views of delicacy to question it.' " p. 318. 

" And does he give no other proof than simply 
the alleged meaning of the word baptizof asked 
Miss Ashton. 

'' No ; that is the whole. And yet this is noth- 
ing to what he says he can prove by the word. 
' I care not,' he says, ' if there had not been a 
fountain in all Bethulia ; she might have been 
immersed without it. If from other places, I 
prove that imrnerse is the meaning of the word, 
this in every situation will provide the water.' 
(p. 319.) ' Had Judith been most rigorously 
treated, and confined to her tent, when she is 
said to be baptized for purification, I will make 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 77 

the word find her water.' (p. 457). ' Our reason 
for believing that Judith was immersed is, that 
the historian tells us that she was immersed^'^ i. e. 
baptized." 

*' But does this man imagine that persons in 
their senses will accept these specimens of 
reasoning ? " exclaimed Mary. 

" Apparently. And he seems quite indignant 
that they do not. ' My opponents are more un- 
reasonable with me,' says he, ' than the Israelites 
were with Moses : they murmured when they had 
no water ! ' (p. 459.) And in one case, when de- 
claiming against the arguments of the venerable 
and scholarly Dr. Miller of Princeton, this Dr. 
Carson cries out, ' Were the angel Gabriel to 
hesitate, I would order him to school ! ' " p. 884. 

''I confess," said Joseph, ''that such dogma- 
tism and profanity are shocking. No candid 
mind can fail of being disgusted by them. Still, 
it would be an error on the other side to be 
repelled by them from the really sound argu- 
ments which he advances. Dr. Carson is a very 
able man, and is regarded as a tower of strength 
by our churches and ministers." 

" I am aware of it," said Mr. Stanley, "hence 
my reference to his work. It is published by the 



78 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

'American Baptist Publication Society,' which 
of course is the highest imprimatur of the de- 
nomination. 

" The only remaining instance in which the 
word occurs in the Septuagint is in Ecclesiasticus 
81 : 35 : ' He that is baptized — haptizomenos — 
from a dead body and again touches it, what profit 
has he from his washing ? ' What this baptism 
was, we learn from Numb. 19 : 14-22. It was to 
be sprinkled with the water of separation, to wash 
his clothes, and to wash himself — rachatz — in 
water. Nothing in the words themselves, and 
nothing in the law requires the sense of immer- 
sion, or creates the least probability that such 
was the mode employed. To say that the bath- 
ing here mentioned was an immersion is simply 
to beg the whole question. 

" Such then," continued Mr. Stanley, ''was the 
teaching of the ancient Scriptures, both as to the 
idea involved in a ritual purification, and the 
term ' baptism,' chosen to express it. Such was 
the help afforded the apostles for the right under- 
standing of our Lord's command to go and bap- 
tize all nations. Never in the law had they seen 
an immersion commanded ; never in the use of 
the word had they seen an immersion related. 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 79 

All their instructions from tliis source had been 
to the opposite effect. They had seen sprink- 
lings in the Mosaic ritual, and sprinkling as the 
figurative representation of the work of the Mes- 
siah. They had read of the leprous Naaman 
baptizing himself seven times at the river, of 
Nebuchadnezzar baptized with the dews, of the 
prophet baptized with an overwhelming sense of 
iniquity, of the pious Hebrew widow baptizing 
herself before prayer at a drinking fountain in 
the military camp, and of a person who had 
touched a dead body baptized with the sprinkled 
water of purification. What then must have 
been their idea of^ the meaning of the word ? 
What of the work they were to do in fulfilling 
their great commission? " 

" I do not see how any one can resist the force 
of this reasoning," remarked Arthur. " The 
Bible has always been one of the greatest edu- 
cators of men. Our English version, which we 
have had in its present form less than three 
hundred years, just about the same space of time 
that the Jews before Christ had had the Septua- 
gint, is conceded by all scholars to have done 
more to fix the meaning and use of the words 
employed in it than any other one thing. How 



k 



80 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

potent then must this book have been in deter- 
mining the import of words among a people to 
whom it was the source of all authority, secular 
as well as sacred, — not only their Bible, but also 
the Constitution and Statute Baok of the state ! " 

'' And this brings us to a fourth remark under 
this first general head," said Mr. Stanley ; " and 
that is that the apostles and their associates had 
themselves been accustomed to use the word baptizo 
and its derivatives. The commission was a new 
one, but the words employed in it were already 
familiar. Let us see to what things they had 
been wont to apply them. 

"On a certain occasion our Lord was invited 
to dine with a Pharisee, and Luke (ch. 11 : 38,) 
says that his host ' marveled that he had not 
first baptized himself — ebaptisthe — before dinner.' 
What was this act which had been omitted, and 
which was called by the Evangelist a baptism? "^^ 

" Dr. Carson and all Baptists say it was an 
immersion," answered Joseph. 

" Yes, and they prove it only from the word 
itself, the meaning of Avhich is the very thing in 
dispute. Mark also makes the following state- 
ment (ch. 7: 4.). 'And when they'^. ^. all the 
Jews, ' come from the market except they baptize 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 81 

themselves — haptizontai — they eat not.' Now 
in opposition to the claim that this was a custom 
of immersion I allege, first, that it is a pure 
assumption. There is not a particle of evidence 
in support of a practice so burdensome, so waste- 
ful of time, and so detrimental to health, which 
must have amounted to taking a plunge bath 
never less than three times a day, and in case of 
men called from home by business or pleasure, 
several times more. Secondly, it is highly im- 
probable. Where, for instance, could such an 
habitual dipping have been performed ? In such 
a country as Palestine, where most of the streams 
are dry for months together, access could not 
generally be had to brooks or rivers. Cisterns and 
wells were not places to bathe in. Baths large 
enough for such a purpose could not have been 
usual, nor could water in sufficient quantities 
have been had if they were. At public feasts, or 
where a large number of guests were assembled, 
as may have been the case in this instance when 
Jesus dined with the Pharisee, how unreasonable 
to suppose that they all went and stripped them- 
selves and took a plunge bath preparatory to 
coming to the table. On the other hand, what 
we do know of the domestic arrangements of the 



82 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Jews, points to a very different method of ablu- 
tion. Take the house of the bridegroom in 
Cana, who was evidently one of the wealthier 
class, and Avhat do we find as to its provision for 
performing this and the other ceremonial washings 
of the Jews ? Why, ' six water pots of stone 
containing two or three firkins ' — from 15 to 20 
gals.— apiece. Certainly no person 
ever plunged himself bodily into one 
of these. When their contents were 
> to be used, they were ' drawn out ' 
1^ (verse 8). And, generally, the cus- 
f^^ tom of bathing in the East, unless 
it were in a pool or river, (and not 
always Avith that exception), was performed 
by standing beside a bath and having the water 
poured upon the bather by an attendant. ' On 
ancient vases,' says Dr. Wm. Smith, (Die. of 
Gr. and Rom. Ant. p. 184,) ' on which persons 
are represented bathing, we never find anything 
corresponding to a modern bath, in which persons 
can stand or sit, but there is always a round or 
oval basin resting on a stand, by the side of 
which those Avho are bathing are represented, 
standing undressed and washing themselves, as is 
seen in the accompanying wood-cut taken from 
Sir William Hamilton's vases.' 




WATER POT. 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 



83 




A GREEK BATH. 



'' Is it not very singular if these numerous and 
habitual washings were always, by ' all the Jews,' 
performed by immersion, that we never in all the 
Bible find any mention of a vessel in which it 
was done? Their dwellings and furniture are 
frequently described with more or less particu- 
larity, their beds and tables and culinary utensils, 
their mills for grinding, their ovens and kneading 
troughs, their bottles and pitchers and lamps, but 
never any where the article which, on this as- 
sumption, must have been in more constant use 
than any other, the hath-tuh ? In a careful de- 
scription of a modern Baptist church, is the bap- 
tistery the one thing which is invariably left 
out?" 



84 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" In order to shoAV that the Jews may have im- 
mersed themselves," said Joseph, ''we may refer 
to a hke custom among the Abyssinians. Mr. 
Bruce informs us that the sect called the Kem- 
mont^ ' wash themselves from head to foot, after 
coming from market or any public place where 
they may have touched any one of a sect differ- 
ent from their own, esteeming all such unclean.' 
(Rob. Cal. page 142). And Dr. Carson asks, 
' Is it strange to find the superstitious Pharisees 
immersing themselves or their couches for purifi- 
cation ? ' " 

''To this I have two replies to make," said Mr. 
Stanley. " One is that the customs of the Jews 
cannot be inferred from an Abyssinian sect. 
The other is that Bruce does not say the Kem- 
mont immersed themselves. They ' washed 
themselves from head to foot.' Washing even 
the whole body is one thing, immersion quite 
another." 

"Dr. Gale," said Joseph, "understands the 
passage in Mark as meaning that the Jews dipped 
the articles they had bought in the market, not 
themselves ; and cites several ancient versions 
of the New Testament, the Syriac, Arabic, etc., 
in support of this view." 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 85 

*' But there is no more evidence of this prac- 
tice among them than of personal immersions," 
rephed the pastor ; " besides this is to put an im- 
possible meaning on the Greek text." 

"- Do you not think, sir, that it may mean that 
the Pharisees simply washed their hands after 
coming from the market, and before eating, and 
that this was done, as is most natural, by dip- 
ping them in water ? " asked Miss Ashton. 

" Undoubtedly the practice was that of wash- 
ing the hands," replied Mr. Stanley, '' as the 
verses immediately preceding show. ' When they 
saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, 
that is to say, with unwashen hands, they found 
fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews except 
they wash their hands oft, eat not.' But washing 
the hands, even if it was immersion, was not an 
immersion of the whole body. If this is all that 
the Baptists contend for, the controversy is 
ended. A little hand-font holding a gallon 
would avail for this as well as a baptistery con- 
taining hogsheads. 

'' It is an important fact, that among different 
nations, and in different ages, entire purity has 
been represented by applying water to only a 
pari of the body. Thus the Hebrews, Greeks 



86 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

and Romans, were accustomed to wash the hands 
in token of innocence. Among the Jews when 
the body of a murdered man was found, and the 
murderer could not be discovered, the elders of 
the city were required to wash their hands over a 
slain heifer in token of their innocence of the 
murder. If entire purity may not be represented 
by a partial washing, the elders should have im- 
mersed themselves. David says, ' I will wash my 
hands in innocency,' and Pilate took water, and 
washed his hands^ saying, ' I am innocent of the 
blood of this just person.' 

''But immersion, whatever may be customary 
with us, was not the usual way of washing the 
hands in the East. That method was undoubted- 
ly the same that was in existence a thousand 
years before, in the days of ' Elisha the son of 
Shaphat, which poured water upon the hands of 
Elisha ' (2 Kings 3 : 11), and which with all the 
tenacity of eastern customs continues to this 
day. Thus Dr. Thomson, in describing an orien- 
tal meal says, ' Of course after such a meal ' — 
(in this respect only the custom seems to have 
changed; it was formerly before eating) 'wash- 
ing the hands and mouth is indispensable — and 
the ibrieh and tusht^ their pitcher and ewer, are al- 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 87 

ways brought, and the servant with a napkin over 
his shoulder pours on your hands. If there is no 
servant they perform this office for each other. 
Great men have those about them whose special 
business it is to pour water on their hands.' " 
See the cut on the opposite page. 

'' Nothing can be more satisfactory than this," 
said Mary. '' And will you now, in this connec- 
tion, explain what we are to understand by the 
other things mentioned, in the same verse, viz : 
'the washing of pots and cups and brazen 
vessels and tables ' ? " 

" These Avashings," rephed her father, ''called 
baptisms in the original, were a part of the cere- 
monial purifications so common among the Jews. 
As to all but the last, the only hint we have as to 
the manner in which they were done, is afforded 
us by the severe rebuke administered by Christ, 
for the hypocris}'^ of the Pharisees in making 
clean the outside of the cup and the platter, while 
within they were full of impurity. (Matt. 23 : 
25.) It would seem from this that whatever was 
the mode employed, it was applied only to the out- 
side^ else the language of our Saviour would not 
hold, and if so, that it was not immersion, which 
would, of course, cleanse the inside and outside 



88 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

alike. As to the articles last mentioned, called 
in our translation ' tables ' — klinai — what do 
you suppose they were ? " 

" Why, brother," said Mrs. Mason, '' what 
could they have been but the pieces of furniture 
used at meals for supporting the food and dishes, 
as with us ? " 

'^ No," said Mr. Stanley, ''they were some- 
thing far different from ours. In fact they were 
not talles at all, but * rather beds or divans upon 
which persons reclined while at the table. The 
cut opposite, copied from Calmet's Dictionary, 
will give you a better idea of them than any 
verbal description. 

" ' The Hebrews,' says he, ' anciently sat at 
table, but afterwards imitated the Persians and 
Chaldeans who reclined on table-beds or divans 
while eating. The reader is requested to notice 
the construction of the tables, viz. three tables 
so set together as to form one. Around these 
tables are placed, not seats, but couches or beds, 
one to each table ; each of these beds being called 
dinimn^ three of these united to sui^round the 
three tables formed the tricUnmm (three beds). 
These beds were formed of mattresses stuffed, 
and were often highly ornamented. Observe the 



n 
» 

2 



o 



» 

Sid 

I 

a 

o 

a 




DIVEKS BAPTISMS. 89 

attitude of the guests, each reclining on his left 
elbow, and therefore using principally his right 
hand, that only or at least chiefly being free for 
use. Observe also that the feet of the person re- 
clining being towards the external edge of the 
bed, they were much more readily reached by 
any body passing, than any other part of the 
person so reclining ! ' 

■'' This attitude at meals is certified not only by 
historical testimony, but by the express language 
of the Scriptures, and by the circumstances re- 
corded on several occasions. The phrase ' to sit 
at meat,' and kindred terms are, in the original, 
to recline^ as on a couch. (Matt. 26 : 7, 20 ; 
Mark 14: 18 ; 16 : 4; Luke 7 : 36; 14: 8; 24: 30; 
John 13 : 23.) It was while thus reclining that 
the ' woman that was a sinner,' and afterwards 
Mary, the sister of Lazarus, came behind our 
Lord and washed and anointed his feet. (Luke 
7 : 38 ; John 12: 3). So also when he washed 
the feet of his disciples. John 13 : 5. 

'' Now I ask you to look at this bulky appara- 
tus for meals, and persuade yourselves, if you 
can, that the Pharisees were in the habit of ac- 
tually immersing it totally in water for the pur- 
poses of ceremonial purification. I do not say it 



90 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

was impossible ; the couches may have all been 
taken apart and immersed piece by piece ; the 
mattresses and cushions, often richly embroid- 
ered, may have been dipped one by one, and all 
this frequently and habitually, but who in his 
senses can possibly believe it ? No law required 
it; there was rarely, if ever, a bath or other 
place where it could have been done ; and there is 
no evidence that in fact it ever was done. To 
affirm it is to show to what urgent straits they 
are driven who maintain that the word baptism 
always and only means immersion, and upon 
what amazing grounds they build the walls which 
exclude from membership in Christ's church and 
communion at his table all who are unimmersed." 

'' How do Baptists usually explain this mat- 
ter ? " inquired Nellie. 

'' Generally, I think," said Joseph, ''by main- 
taining that the couches here intended were not 
those on which persons reclined at meals, but the 
ordinary beds on which they slept, and which 
were often only a mat laid upon the floor. These 
could be taken up and carried (Matt. 9 : 6 ; 
John 5: 5 — 12), and of course could be easily im- 
mersed." 

'' But the word is not restricted to this class 



BIVEES BAPTISMS. 91 

of couches," rejoined Mr. Stanley. " It does not 
say, the washings of pots and cups and beds 
small enough to be taken up and carried. Be- 
sides, the connection in which it stands shows it 
was meant to refer to these table-couches. The 
mention of these things grew out of what took 
place at a meal, and occurs in a description of 
the practices of the Jews relating to meals. No- 
bod}'-, if not striving to maintain a point, would 
ever think of any other reference in this connec- 
tion. Accordingly,- many Baptists, to escape 
from a position in which all authorities are 
against them, resort to a variety of other sup- 
positions, all of which are marvels of conjecture. 
Dr. Carson himself, though contending for 
the little portable mats, guesses many other 
things. ' Whatever might have been their size, 
they might easily be immersed in a pond,'' p. 400. 
' The couches might have been made to be taken 
to pieces^ in order to their more convenient im- 
mersion, and were this necessary it -is a valid 
solution.' " p. 451. 

'' I once heard," remarked Arthur, " a Baptist 
Doctor of Divinity say that the dining rooms of 
the Jews might have been made water-tight and 
the water have been admitted by pipes, or brought 



92 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

in by hand and poured upon the couches, till they 
were wholly immersed in it." • 

'' And what did you reply, my son, to that 
suggestion ? " • 

''I- said I would not reply to it at all. I would 
let the difficulty and the explanation go together, 
and leave it to men's common sense to judge of 
them." 

'' A very appropriate answer, I think. Indeed, 
it astonishes me beyond measure to see to what 
methods of reasoning our brethren will resort to 
uphold their theory. ' The opponents of immer- 
sion, says Carson, are constantly calling on us to 
prove that there were in such and such places 
things necessary for dipping. Mr. E.' (one of his 
opponents) ' gauges the reservoirs and wells of 
Jerusalem to show their insufficiency for immer- 
sion. He may then call on me to find a place 
sufficient to immerse a couch. But I will go on 
no such errand. If I have proved the meaning of 
a word, I will believe the Spirit of God who tells 
me that the Pharisees baptized their beds, and 
leave the superstition and industry of the 
devotees to find or make such a place. — If I could 
prove that there was at Jerusalem a pond that 
could immerse the high church of Glasgow, I 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 93 

would certainly bring forward my proof, but I 
would as certainly disclaim the necessity. '^ pp. 
73, 74. 

''And why not necessary, father," said Mary. 

" Oh, because the word^ baptize^ settles it ! 
' Though it were proved ' says he, ' that the 

couches COULD ITOT BE IMMERSED, I WOuld not 

yield an inch of the ground I have occupied ! ' 

''But let us proceed with our illustrations of 
the use which Christ himself and the apostles 
had been wont to make of the words in question. 
On two occasions he applied them to his own 
approaching sufferings and death. ' I have a 
baptism to be baptized with, and how am I 
straitened till it be accomplished ! ' (Luke 12 : 
50.) So to the two ambitious disciples who 
wanted places of honor in his kingdom, he said, 
' Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall 
drink of and to be baptized with the baptism 
that I am baptized with ? ' (Matt. 20 : 22, 23.) 
I do not suppose that they understood him then, 
in these sayings ; indeed, when he spoke of his 
death in the most expUcit manner, they knew 
not what to make of it. But the time came 
when they knew what he meant. It was 'on 
that dark and doleful night ' when they went 
down with him into Gethsemane, and saw the 



94 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

heavy cloud of anguish and horror settling upon 
him ; when they heard him cry that if it were 
possible the cup might pass from him, and saw 
his sweat, like great drops of blood, falling down 
to the ground. It was when they beheld his 
sacred countenance stained with the trickhng 
streams drawn forth by his thorny crown, and 
saw the mingled blood and water which, at the 
thrust of the Roman spear, poured from his 
wounded side. Then it was that they learned 
what was that baptism of sufferings and death, 
which he was to endure, and which, they too, 
according to his promise should afterwards share, 
the 'martyr baptism,' as the primitive Christians 
used to call it, in which they were crucified with 
Christ." 

'^ But what objection is there," asked Joseph, 
" to our conceiving of these sufferings as some- 
thing into which he was immersed? We often use 
a similar phrase, ' to be plunged into grief, to be 
immersed in woes, etc' Of course, in whatever 
way we view it, the baptism was a figurative one, 
and why is not this the most natural way of 
accounting for the figure ? " 

'' Possibly we might so conceive of it, if there 
was any shadow of warrant for it. But never, in 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. * 95 

all the Scriptures, I venture to say, is there any- 
thing like this in reference to the sufferings of 
our Lord. On the contrary, they are always rep- 
resented as something that were to come upon hi7n, 
' He was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 
He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, 
the chastisement of our sins was upon him, — the 
Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all.' 
The divine displeasure, which, as our subsitute, 
he bore, is represented as something ' poured 
out,' and even in his own last conscious pang, he 
is said to have 'poured out his soul unto death.' 
(Isa. 53 : 12.) I do not mean, of course, that 
these expressions have any reference to the form 
of baptism, but only that they go to shape our 
thoughts as to what was in our Lord's mind 
when he took that word as descriptive of his 
atoning sorrows. To conceive of him as plung- 
ing into a pool of woe and death, is not only 
wholly unwarranted, but, to my mind, repellant 
to every sacred instinct and feeling.^ 



1 Dr. J. W. Dale, author of the recent able and valuable works on 
"Classic," "Judaic," and "Johannic Baptisms," derives this figure 
from a very frequent use of baptizo in classic Greek, to denote the effect 
of drinking from a cup, that effect depending upon the nature of the 
draught. It maybe drunkenness, or sleep, or stupor, or death. "A 
comparison," says he, "of the passages of Scripture relating to this 
subject with one another, confirms the relation suggested. In John 



96 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

''I remark lastly, under this head, the apostles 
had heard of the baptism of the Holy Ghost^ nay, 
had been promised that they should themselves very 
speedily receive it. (Luke 24 : 49 ; John 20 : 22 ; 
Acts 1 : 8.) This was one of the topics of 
John's preaching, as it had been of all the proph- 
ets before him. Whether any of the twelve 
witnessed the descent of the Spirit upon Christ 
at his baptism is doubtful, but with the account 
of it they must have been familiar. Before they 
went forth to execute their commission, that 
wonderful promise to themselves was fulfilled on 
the day of pentecost. So that they must have 
had the best of all instruction as to the meaning 
of the thing called baptism, the direct illumina- 
tion and experience of the Spirit himself. 

'' Now the form of this baptism they knew was 
not that of immersion. By ' form,' here, I refer, 
of course, not to the invisible work itself, for 



18: 11, ' The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?' 
the cause only is brought to view. In Luke 12 : 50, * I have a baptism 
to be baptized with,' the result is only brought to view. But in Mark 
10: 38, ' Can ye drink of the ct/p that I drink of, and be baptized with 
the baptism that I am baptized with?' both the cause (drinking of the 
cup) and the effect of that drinking (baptism) are brought together. . . 
We therefore say that the cup which the Saviour drank was filled with 
atoning sufferings and that the baptism consequent upon drinking that 
cup was into expiatory death." "Cup and Cross" p. 2i. Compare 
with this the Greek usage shown on p. 187. 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 97 

that, being spiritual, has no form. I mean the 
mode divinely chosen to represent that work to 
men, whether by visible manifestations, or by 
verbal description. In no case, whatever, was it 
presented to man under the form of an immer- 
sion, as something into which one is plunged, but 
always as that which comes doivn upon him from 
above himself. 

'' These visible manifestations were two-fold. 
At the baptism of Jesus, Luke says, (ch. 3 : 22,) 
' the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like 
a dove upon him.' Doubtless it was a luminous 
appearance assuming the form of this bird, and 
gliding downward with a gentle hovering motion 
upon the head of our Lord. On the day of pen- 
tecost, it was in the shape of ' cloven tongues like 
as of fire,' sitting on the head of each of the dis- 
ciples. Acts 2 : 3. 

'• The verbal expressions describing the bap- 
tism of the Spirit are various. Perhaps the most 
common of all is to pour and to pour out. ' I 
will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.' ' I 
will pour out in those days of my Spirit.' (Joel 
2 : 28, 29.) ' On the Gentiles was poured out 
the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 10: 45.) See 
also Isa. 32 : 15 ; 44 : 3 ; Ezek. 29 : 39 ; Zech. 12 : 



98 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

10. In Acts 2 : 23, the expression is ' hath shed 
forth: (Ezek. 11 : 5.) ' The Spirit of the Lord 
fell upon me.' So in Acts 11 : 15. Similar terms 
are used in describing the effects of the Spirit's 
operation. ' He shall sprinkle many nations.' 
(Isa. 52 : 15.) ' I will sprinkle clean water upon 
you.' (Ezek. 86 : 25.) ' Descend ' and ' descend- 
ing,' to 'be on ' and to ' put upon,' to ' abide 
upon,' to ' rest upon ' and to ' sit upon,^ to 
'anoint,' to 'seal,' etc., are other phrases of a 
similar character. 

" Glance now through all these modes of rep- 
resentation, by visible symbols and by verbal 
expression, to set forth the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit, and where do you find any thing that in 
the remotest degree resembles an immersion ? 
To thrust such an idea into the midst of this 
sacred symbolism seems to me, I confess, not 
only unwarranted but something shocking. And 
yet this is the way that our Baptist brethren 
have dared — I do not think the word too stronsr — 
to translate the awful words of John, makino<- 
him say, ' He shall immerse you in the Holy 
Ghost and fire ' ! Nay, because the American 
Bible Society would not go with them in this 
innovation, to call it by no worse name, they 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 99 

must withdraw their co-operation from it, break- 
ing the blessed fellowship of work in giving 
God's Word to the world, and set up an institu- 
tion of their own in which they can manipulate 
the inspired language to conform to and uphold 
the unwarranted assumptions of their sect ! " 

''You speak, strongly, brother," said Mrs. 
Mason. '' They Avere certainly good men who 
did that." 

" I do not question it, nor do I speak unkindly, 
but the proceeding itself I regard most repre- 
hensible." 

''But," said* Joseph, "is not the preposition 
used in the verse you have referred to, en, and 
would it not therefore, if translated literally, 
read, ' He shall baptize you in the Holy 
Ghost ? ' " 

" It is true," replied Mr. Stanley, " that the 
word en is used, but this preposition in Greek 
has a far wider signification than our English in. 
One of its commonest uses is to denote the 
agency or instrumentality b^ which an act is per- 
formed, especially when that agent or instrument 
is a person. So you will see by looking at any 
good Lexicon, Robinson's, for example. Instances 
innumerable might be cited, a few of which are 



too THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

these; ''He casts out devils hy the prince of the 
devils.' ' There is none other name whereby we 
must be saved.' ' He Avill judge the world in 
righteousness hy that man whom he hath or- 
dained.' ' This kind goeth not out but hy prayer 
and fasting.' ' If thou shalt confess ivith thy 
mouth.' ' Overcome evil with good,' etc. No 
one would think of substituting in in these pas- 
sages." 

"After all, uncle, you must concede that the 
outpouring of the Spirit was not a literal bap- 
tism ; it is oiilj figuratively called so^^^ said Joseph. 

" Not literal ! Pray what authority have you 
for saying this ? It was not water baptism, I 
grant, but it was nevertheless a baptism, as really 
as if it had been. There was a literal act per- 
formed by the Spirit of God ; that act was shown 
to men in a certain manner ; and that literal act, 
so manifested, is called a haptism. Our Lord 
himself expressly applies to it that name, and 
will you question the propriety of his lan- 
guage ? " 

"But there certainly was an immersion there," 
persisted Joseph. " Are we not told that the 
Spirit came from heaven as a rushing, mighty 
wind, and filled all the place where the disciples 



DIYEKS BAPTISMS. 101 

were sitting ? And if it filled the room they 
.were immersed in the Spirit, were they not? " 

" No ; it says a sound like as of a rushing, 
mighty wind came, and it filled, etc. Not the 
Spirit, nor even a wind, but a sound as of a 
wind. If there was an immersion then, it was 
an immersion in sound and in nothing more sub- 
stantial. So in the formation of their religious 
beliefs, men are often led by a sound of words to 
holding opinions as emptj^ as itself." 

A laugh went round the table at Joseph's ex- 
pense ; when Nellie, as if to cover his chagrin, 
asked : 

'' What do you think, Mr. Stanley, is meant by 
the baptism with fire which John predicted ? 
Was it the same thing as the baptism of the 
Spirit, symbolized in the ' cloven tongues like as 
of fire,' which appeared on the heads of the 
apostles?" 

''I think not," he replied, ''though I am aware 
that many commentators so interpret it. If you 
will carefully examine the prophecy of Malachi, 
you will find that it contained the texts, so to 
speak, from which John preached. The Messiah 
was to come in a twofold character as a Purifier 
of his people, and a Punisher of his foes. The 



102 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

former he would ' purge as gold and silver, that 
they might offer to the Lord an offering in right- 
eousness,' (ch. 3: 3). The latter, says the 
prophet, ' shall be stubble, and the day that 
Cometh shall burn them up, that it shall leave 
them neither root nor branch'; (ch. 4:1). The 
preaching of John but reiterated this. He shall 
baptize you — including under the same word 
both good and bad, as they came intermingled to 
hear him — ' with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' 
This was precisely what our Lord himself taught. 
' He that believeth shall be saved, he that believ- 
eth not shall be damned.' We can scarcely 
think of looking for the figure of the baptism 
under this appalling language, or if we must, we 
may possibly find it under the prophet's concep- 
tion of a fiery tempest from heaven, falling upon 
and consuming the dry remnants of the harvest 
field, gleaned of the wheat already gathered into 
the garner. 

''We have now," said Mr. Stanley,, "completed 
our answer to the question, ' What means had the 
apostles for understanding the commission given 
them?' They had seen the baptism of John and 
the baptism of proselytes ; they had learned the 
nature and circumstances of the baptisms men- 



DIVERS BAPTISMS. 103 

tioned in their Scriptures ; they had seen what 
sorts of acts were called by that name by our 
Lord himself and by their associates ; and they 
had seen and received the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit. In all these classes of acts, and in every 
instance under them, thej^ had seen and known 
it, so far as we can discover, only as a pouring 
or sprinkling, never as an immersion. This was 
their education in the use of the word 'baptism,^ 
and their preparation for understanding what 
their Lord meant when he commanded them to 
go, teach, and baptize all nations. 

'' And now we must close our session for the 
evening." 



104 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PRACTICE AND TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 

WHAT shall we take up this evening ? " said 
Mary Stanley, when our friends Avere next 
gathered around Mrs. Mason's table. 

'' Shall it be the classic usage of haptizo?'^^ in- 
quired Joseph, with a smile. 

'' Not quite yet, I think," replied his uncle. 
'' We have hitherto been considering, mostly, 
what means the apostles had of understanding 
their commission. The next thing in order, I 
will suggest, is the inquiry. How did they under- 
stand it? And this we are to learn from two 
sources, first, what they did^ and secondly what 
they said.^^ 

'' Yes," answered Mrs. Mason, '' that is a very 
reasonable view of the subject. If we find that, 
as a matter of fact, they did immerse persons in 



PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES. 105 

baptism, that is evidence that they so understood 
it." 

" And if not, not," added Mr. S. 

" Well, then," said Mary, " what did they do? 
What was the first baptism they administered ? " 

"• It was that of the three thousand converts 
on the day of pentecost," said Joseph. ''Will you 
read us the account, Nellie ? It is in the second 
of Acts." 

Miss-Ashton read it. 

" Now here are a number of things to look at," 
said Mr. Stanley. " And first, the time. When 
was that, Arthur ? " 

" ' Pentecost ' means the ' fiftieth day,' and was 
reckoned from the 16th of Nisan, which was the 
second day of the passover. This would bring it, 
ordinarily, about the 20th of May." 

" Next the place, Mary ? " 

" That is not definitely stated. They were all 
' in one place.' Was it the temple ? " 

"Probably not; more likely in the 'upper 
room ' where they had been accustomed to meet 
since Christ's ascension, (ch. 1 : 13.) The large 
gathering of the people ma^ have been in 
the temple, but was more probably in the open 
space called the Xystus, constructed in the time 



106 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

of Antiochus Epiphanes, for athletic exercises 
and sports, after the manner of the Greeks. (2 
Mace. 4 : 9-12.) It seems to have been in the 
Tyropoean valley, west of the temple, extending 
perhaps a little way up the slope of Mt. Zion. 
Now for the baptism itself. How was it, Jo- 
seph?" 

''By immersion, we say, of course." 
" And what evidence have you of this ? " 
" I do not know that there is any except what 
the word itself affords. The record says they 
were baptized, and that is. the same thing as to 
say they were immersed." 

" But to this there are three insuperable objec- 
tions ; there was no place to do it in ; no pro- 
vision of baptismal garments ; and no sufficient 
time." 

" As to the place," said Joseph, '' I see no diffi- 
culty. Jerusalem abounded in cisterns and foun- 
tains, besides its large pools, the reservoir under 
the temple, and the aqueduct of Solomon. Dr. 
Robinson, who studied the subject with great 
care, says, ' The Holy City would appear always 
to have had a full supply of water for its inhabi- 
tants in ancient and in modern times. In the 
numerous seiges, to which in all ages it has been 



PBACTICE OF THE APOSTLBS. 107 

exposed, we nowhere read of any want of water 
within the city.' " 

" Yes, a full supply for drinking, but not for 
the immersion of three thousand persons in one 
afternoon. Take those places in detail. Cis- 
terns were very abundant, but they were, says 
Robinson, ' from twenty to seventy-five feet 
deep, with, usually, only a round opening at the 
top, sometimes built up with stonework above, 
and furnished with a curb, and a wheel for the 
bucket, so that they had, externally, much the 
appearance of a well.' Not very good places for 
immersion, certainly. Take the pools. Those 
called Solomon's were eight miles distant from 
the city, between Bethlehem and Hebron, whose 
waters were conveyed in a covered aqueduct, a 
few inches only in diameter, to the reservoirs be- 
neath the temple. The latter were huge caverns 
cut in the solid rock, containing supplies for the 
temple-service. There was no public access to 
them, and nobody would have been allowed, by 
bathing in them, to pollute the waters to be used 
in the sanctuary. The pools of Gihon, Upper 
and Lower, in the valley of Hinnom, and the 
pool of Hezekiah within the city, were vast stone 
reservoirs, from eighteen to forty feet deep, in 



108 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

which persons, possibly, might swim, but into 
which they could no more wade for immersion, 
than into the distributing reservoir of the Croton, 
in New York. Bethesda, or what goes by that 
name now, was then probably but a dry ditch or 
fosse constituting part of the fortifications of the 
temple. Siloam, which may have been the true 
Bethesda of our Lord's time, was too small to 
have made such an immersion in it practicable. 
The brook Kidron rarely had any w^ater in it ex- 
cept in the winter, and then was a mad, muddy 
torrent rushing along a narrow gorge which sinks 
five hundred feet, perpendicularly, in the space 
of less than a mile. Jordan was eighteen miles 
distant. Now, I do not say there could not have 
been a place where these three thousand persons 
might be immersed in one afternoon, but cer- 
tainly no such place is known, or has been found 
by the most diligent explorers of the antiquities 
of that city. Show us such a place, or give us 
some clew to it in the Bible, or Josephus, or some- 
where else, before you ask us to believe that such 
a thing actually occurred, or deny us our place 
in the chur.ch of God because we do not believe 
it. 

'' Then, there is the same difficulty as to bap- 



PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES. 109 

tismal clothing we had in connection with John's 
baptism. Very many of these converts were 
strangers in Jerusalem, and cannot be supposed 
to have been provided with changes of garments. 
Either they remained in their wet clothes during 
the service, or were immersed naked, neither of 
which is supposable. 

" Nor was there any sufficient time for such a 
task as this. It must have been well on in the 
afternoon before it commenced, and no computa- 
tion I ever heard of could make it reasonable 
that twelve men should have gone through such 
a work during the remaining hours of the day. 
I know well what exploits are said to have been 
performed by Baptist ministers in dispatching 
great numbers of immersions in a short time, and 
I will not stop to question their truth. But the 
apostles were not working upon a wager as to 
time, or striving to see within how few minutes 
the task might be accomplished." 

" No, father, and I never hear any body mak- 
ing such a computation without feeling shocked 
by it," said Mary. " When our hearts are tender 
and solemn at reading this wondrous work of 
God's grace, introducing the blessed dispensation 
of the Spirit, and bringing so many souls in faith 



110 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

and penitence to the Saviour, Avliom, a few days 
before, many of them had joined in crucifying — 
then, to be told of such a scene as, by the suppo- 
sition, the immersion of them in some unknown, 
possible pool in the city, must have been, — 
twelve men hurrying to dispatch their two hun- 
dred and fifty a piece before dark, I feel it to be 
little better than profanation and mockery ! " 

'' But the same difficulty remains on any 
theory," said Joseph. ''Pray, Cousin Mary, how 
did they do it, if they sprinkled the three thou- 
sand ? " 

''I will answer you," said Mr. Stanley, "by 
reading an account of a memorable scene that 
actually occurred in the Sandwich Islands. 'In 
the afternoon of the first Sunday of July, 1838, 
seventeen hundred and five men, women, and 
children were baptized, and twenty-four hundred 
communicaiits sat down at the table of the Lord. 
The great crowd of people at the morning-service 
had been dismissed. Down through the middle 
of the house are seated, first, the original mem- 
bers of the church, perhaps fifty in number. 
The missionar}^ then calls upon the head man of 
each village to bring forward liis people. With 
note-book in hand, he carefully selects the con- 



PBACTICE OF THE APOSTLES. Ill 

verts who have been previously accepted. They 
have been for many weeks at the station, for in- 
struction and examination. The multitude of 
candidates are then seated upon the earth floor, 
in close rows, with space enough between for one 
to walk in. There is prayer and singing, and an 
explanation, made many times before lest any 
should trust in the external rite, is given anew 
of the baptism they are now to receive. Then, 
with a basin of water in his hand, the pastor, rap- 
idly, reverently, passes back and forth along the 
silent rows, and every head receives the sealing 
ordinance. When all have been thus touched, he 
advances to the front, and raising his hand, pro- 
nounces the hallowed words, " I baptize you all 
into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost. Amen." How impressive ! 
How simple ! How easy for one missionary, in 
this way, to baptize nearly two thousand in an 
afternoon; but how utterly impossible had he 
immersed them ! ' " 

"Is it not an historical fact," said Joseph, 
" that upon Easter Sunday A. D. 400 Chrysos- 
tom, aided by the clergy of his own church, did 
immerse about three thousand catechumens at 
Constantinople ? . Also that in A. D. 496, Remi- 



112 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

gius, bisliop of Rheims, immersed Clovis and 
three thousand of his subjects ?" 

" How well authenticated these ' facts ' are, I 
do not know, but conceding them in full, there is 
but slight resemblance between them and the bap- 
tism at pentecost. Chrysostom was bishop of 
the patriarchal church at Constantinople, the im- 
perial city of the East. The clergy of the city 
and suburbs who owned his supremacy numbered 
hundreds. Everything which wealth, aided by 
royal favor, could afford would be done to pre- 
pare for such an event, and the entire day may 
have been taken up for the purpose. So in the 
latter case. The baptism of a king, his courtiers 
and subjects, would make time, place, and cir- 
cumstances wait upon its convenience. It should 
be added, however, that many things related of 
tlie baptism of Clovis are unworthy of credit, 
such as the miracles wrought on that occasion, 
the descent of a dove from heaven, bearing a 
vial of oil for his anointing, etc. (Mosheim vol. 
l:p. 315).i 



1" With respect to the baptism of Clovis and his army, the original 
authorit}^ is Gregory of Tours, (His. Francorum, Lib. H. chap. 31). 
The passage relating to the king is, ' Rex ergo prior poposcit se 
a pontitice baptizari,' — the king first asked to be himself baptized by 
the pontiff. Of the army, 'Deexercitu vero ejus baptizati sunt tria 



PEACTICE OF THE APOSTLES. 113 

''Well, father," said Mary, '' it can't be neces- 
sary to say more of this first instance of Chris- 
tian baptism. It is settled by common sense. 
The assumption that it was by immersion need 
not be pronounced impossible, but it is improba- 
ble in the very highest degree. What was the 
next instance? " 

" The baptism of the Eunuch^ recorded in Acts 
8: 26-40, which Miss Nellie will please read to 
us. 

" There is absolutely nothing here to deter- 
mine the mode in which the baptism was per- 
formed. It is simply a balance of probabilities. 
On the one hand is the ' water ' by the roadside, 
but this does not imply a place large and deep 
enough for an immersion. Dr. Robinson found 
a little water ' standing along the bottom,' of a 
wady or valley near Tell el^Hasy which he thinks 
may have been the scene of the baptism. A 
fountain is shown about five miles from Jerusa- 
lem, and another at Bethsur near Hebron, which 
tradition reports as the place. But it is in the 



millia/ — of his arm}' three thousand were baptized. And this is all. 
How long it took, and how many clergymen assisted in the adminis- 
tration of the rite we are not infomied. And the rite itself was ' bap- 
tism,' not immersion. I mean Greory of Tours can be held only 
for that." MS. Letter of Prof R D. Hitchcock. 



114 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

highest degree huprobable that an immersion was 
administered in a fountain, both because its con- 
struction would not permit of it, and the waters 
would be polluted by it. The verbs ' went 
down ' and ' came up ' do not signify an immerg- 
ing and emerging^ but simply a descent and an 
ascent of the banks containing the water ; and 
the prepositions 'into ' and ' out of might just as 
truly have been rendered to and from. Take 
this very chapter ; the word eis — into — occurs 
in it eleven times ; once it stands in a phrase un- 
translated, once it is rendered at^ once unto^ twice 
m, five times to^ and only in this 38th verse into. 
Elsewhere, it occurs in the following passages. 
' They repented not at the preaching of Jonah ; ' 
' I will send (to) them prophets and apostles.' 
' Jesus stood on the shore.' ' Jesus cometh to 
the grave.' 'Go thou to the sea and cast a 
hook.' ' When we were all fallen to the earth.' 
' The other disciple did outrun Peter, and came 
first to the sepulcher — yet went he not m.' 
(John 20: 4, 5). Here it is expressly asserted 
that eis did not mean into. And we have only 
to substitute the word into in these places to see 
how absurd the pretense that such is its only 
meaning. So with the word ek. ' The coat was 



PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES. 115 

without seam, woven from the top throughout.' 
*- The tree is known 5^ its fruit.' 'Having agreed 
with the laborers for a penny.' 'Jesus knew from 
the beginning/ 'He riseth from supper.' ' That 
they may le^tfrom their labors,' etc. 

" But as I have remarked before, I do not care 
to press these critical points. I think the proba- 
bilities are, that Philip and the eunuch came to 
some collection of shallow waters by the wayside. 
I do not think there was a river or a pond, for 
nothing of the sort is found on the road from 
Jerusalem to Gaza, at present, and the way we 
know was ' desert ' then as it is now. Dismount- 
ing from the chariot, and descending the wady, 
I presume they slipped off their sandals, and 
tucking their loose upper garments above their 
knees, they stepped into the edge of the water, 
where Philip, taking up the liquid in his hand, 
poured it upon the head of the officer. This 
would be in exact accordance with the language 
of the record, and with 'the customs prevailing 
through all the East to this day. I have myself 
often seen persons in India come to the brink of 
a stream or a pond, lay off their sandals, step a 
little way into the water, then scoop it up with 
their hands and drink. If fatigued and heated 



116 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

they unwrap their shoulder cloth, or shawl, bind 
it about the waist, tuck up about the hips the 
cloth which is worn from the waist to the knee, 
wade in nearly to the hips, throw water upon 
their faces, shoulders, and arms, and thus refresh 
themselves. Ordinary bathing is done by stand- 
ing in a tank or by a well, and pouring the water 
from a vessel over the head. Submersion is 
rarely if ever performed. I do not know that I 
ever witnessed it except in the open sea. They 
would consider their tanks polluted by it. Even 
when they wash their hands, they do it invari- 
ably by having water poured over them,- never by 
immersing them in it." 

"What do you think suggested the idea of 
baptism to the eunuch? '' asked Arthur. 

" It is impossible to say certainly. We are 
told that he had been up to Jerusalem to wor- 
ship. While there he could hardly help hearing 
of the exciting events which had recently oc- 
curred, the crucifixion of Jesus, his alleged res- 
urrection from the dead, the scenes of the day 
of pentecost, and the rapidly increasing number 
of persons who were professing faith in Jesus as 
the Messiah, and being baptized in his name. A 
deep impression seems to have been made on his 



PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES. 117 

mind by these things ; and now having started for 
home, he devotes the quiet hours of his journey 
to a study of the prophecies relating to the com- 
ing and character of the Messiah. Just then 
the Evangehst, divinely directed, meets him. 
He is found to be reading the remarkable passage 
in the fifty-second and fifty-third chapters of 
Isaiah. Philip, at his request, explains it, and 
preaches to him Jesus. Whether his Septuagint 
copy had the words as they stand in the Hebrew, 
and in our English version, ' So shall he sprinkle 
many nations," etc., (ch. 52 : 15) or not, is of 
little consequence. With an inspired commen- 
tator as his guide, he could not fail to have had 
a true exposition of the passage as predicting the 
purifying work of the Messiah, of which baptism 
was the appointed symbol and seal. The result 
of this instruction was most happy. The officer 
accepted this new doctrine with the docility of 
a child, and presently espying the water by the 
roadside, is ready himself to receive the rite, em- 
blematic of the Spirit's work, that should initiate 
him into the visible company of the believers. 

'^In view of all the circumstances, I conclude 
that there is nothing whatever to show that there 
was an immersion in this case, while, on the other 



118 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

hand, the passage he had been reading, the teach- 
ing of Philip, the supposed location where it 
occurred, and the known habits of the people of 
the East, all concur in making it probable that it 
was a baptism by pouring." 

" I think " said Mary, " that the next instance 
on record was the baptism of Saul of Tarsus. 
(Acts 9 : 10-19). And I cannot see that there 
is any more evidence of immersion in this case, 
than in that of the eunuch." 

''No," said Mr. Stanley, " not so much, if less 
than none be possible. Three days had now 
elapsed since the fierce young zealot had seen 
that overpowering vision on his way to Damascus, 
and during all this time, he had been totally 
blind, and too much agitated to eat or drink. 
The darkness that enshrouded his senses, and the 
deeper darkness of his mind, the conviction of 
his guilt as a persecutor of Jesus, his perplexity 
and despair, seem to have utterly prostrated him. 
While in this extremity, Ananias comes in with 
his message of cheer : ' Jesus, who met thee in 
the way, hath sent me that thou mayest receive 
thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.' 
The scales fall from his eyes, his sight is restored, 
he rises and is baptized forthwith. He does not 



PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES. 119 

go from tlie place ; he does not wait to receive 
food. Just as he is, and where he is, as soon as 
the hands of God's messenger are laid upon him, 
there is poured upon him, first, the baptism of 
the Spirit, and next its outward token, the bap- 
tism by water. The divine affusion sheds light 
into his mind and peace into his heart, and now, 
taking the needful nourishment of which he has 
been so loug unable to partake, he speedily re- 
gains his wonted strength. 

" Dr. Carson, as usual, will not tolerate any 
suggestion of probabilities in this case. The 
word ' baptized ' settles everything. As to the 
objection that Saul was a sick man, he says, ' I 
see nothing in his case to prevent his immediate 
immersion. I consider such reasoning as the 
most egregious trifling. If Paul was baptized in 
a state of exhaustion before partaking of refresh- 
ment, we are not from this to deny the meaning 
of the word, but to learn that baptism ought to 
be attended to immediately on believing. I care 
not that it was expressly said that he was bap- 
tized in the very room where he was sitting, im- 
mediately after the address of Ananias. This 
would not create the smallest difficulty.' (p. 356) 
It is fortunate, however, that Dr. C.'s assertions 



120 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

do not, authoritatively, settle this matter. Other 
people have discernment as well as he, and they 
will judge whether positions so extravagant are 
worthy of reception or not." 

" The next chapter," said Arthur, "presents to 
us the baptism of Cornelius.''^ 

" Yes, and a memorable one it was, being the 
first instance of the baptism of a Gentile. Many 
of the circumstances resembled those of Saul's 
baptism, especially in that it was done on the 
spot, in the house, and was accompanied by the 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The language in 
which this is described is eminently suggestive. 
In explaining the matter to the brethren at Jeru- 
salem, Peter said, ' As I began to speak, the Holy 
Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. 
Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how 
that he said, '' John indeed baptized Avith water^ 
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost,'" 
Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift, 
as he did unto us who believed on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand 
God ? ' The two baptisms are here placed in the 
closest connection, and the apostle says that wit- 
nessing the latter convinced him that he ought to 
administer the former ; in other words, seeing the 



PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES. 121 

Spirit poured upon Cornelius, he should pour upon 
him the water also." 

''I notice a peculiarity of expression in the 
47th verse," said Nellie, '' but do not know that 
it has any special significance. ' Can any man 
forbid water that these should not be baptized,' 
etc. This looks as if the meaning was 'forbid 
water to he brought^'* not ' forbid these to go to the 
water.' " 

'' You are right. Miss Ashton. The expression 
resembles that used in the case of the infants, — 
' Suffer the little children to come to me, and for- 
bid them not,' L ^., to be brought. It very 
clearly shows that the rite was performed on the 
spot, with water brought in for the purpose, and 
that it could not therefore have been done by im- 
mersion. Dean Alford's note on this verse is very 
conclusive. ' The water ^ the Spirit^ the two 
great parts of full and complete baptism^ the lat- 
ter infinitely greater than, but not superseding 
the necessity of, the former. The article here 
should certainly be expressed: Can any forbid 
the water to these who have received the Spirit ? 

tThe expression to forbid^ used with the water^ is 
interesting as showing that the practice was to 
bring the water to the candidates, not the candi- 
I 



122 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

dates to the water. This, which would be im- 
plied by the word under any circumstances, is 
rendered certain, when we remember that they 
were assembled in the house.^ " 

" Lydia and her household come next," said 
Arthur — "in Acts 16: 13-15. But I see here 
very little to throw light upon the subject of 
our inquiries." 

'^ And that very fact,"said Mary, '' seems to me 
quite suggestive. I have been thinking how 
unlike all these narratives of baptisms are to 
what they would have been if left us by our 
modern Baptists. Not a single case, when care- 
fully examined, gives a hint of any thing like an 
immersion. No place unmistakably capable of 
it is mentioned, no going out to any such place, 
no bringing in of a bath tub or filling it with 
water, no change of clothing, no preparation of 
any sort. On other occasions such matters are 
not overlooked. When Jesus was about to wash 
his disciples' feet, he laid aside his garments and 
took a towel and girded himself. When Bar- 
timeus was called, he cast away his garment and 
came to Jesus. The men who stoned Stephen 
laid down their clothes at Saul's feet. Such 
items of preparation introduced into a narrative, 



PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES. 123 

not only enliven it, but give it naturalness and 
effect. But in all these immersions, as they are 
called, even on so remarkable an occasion as the 
baptism of three thousand in a single day, not a 
solitary glimpse of any such attending incident is 
left us. A remarkable fact if they were immer- 
sions, but very natural if they were in modes 
which needed no preparation." 

" True," said her father, '' and this is the more 
forcible when contrasted with the way baptisms 
are described in a later age, when immersion was 
practiced. Then much was made of the laying 
off of the garments. Thus ' Basil rose up with 
fear, undres&ed himself^ putting off the old man, 
and went down, prajdng, into the water ;' " Rob. 
Hist, of Bap. ch. xv. 

" But the place of baptism is mentioned often," 
said Joseph. '' Lydia had gone out to the river 
side, where prayer was wont to be made ; and 
being converted there, was undoubtedly baptized 
in the river, — the Strymon, I think." 

"No ; the Strymon was some distance west of 
the city. It was a small branch of that river, 
called the Gangas, or Gangitas. Prof. Hackett 
says that in summer, at which time this event oc- 
curred, — for they would not have resorted to that 



124 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

unsheltered spot for prayer in the cold season, — 
this stream is almost dry, (Com. p. 258.) How- 
ever, nothing is said as to where she was bap- 
tized, and if it was by the river side, it may still 
not have been done by immersion. I cannot 
think it would comport with the delicacy of a 
Christian lady in the East, to be publicly im- 
mersed by men in a river, within or near to a 
great city. While there is not a shadow of evi- 
dence in support of such an idea, there is the 
highest improbability against it.' ' 

" Well, of that every one must judge for him- 
self," said Joseph. " But if probabilities are to 
outweigh the known meaning of the word itself, 
we can arrive at no certain conclusion whatever. 
In the remaining instance recorded in the Acts. 
however, — that of the baptism of the Jailer at 
Philippi, — you must, I think, admit that the 
probabilities are on the other side." 

" Will you please to mention them ? " said Mr. 
Stanley. 

" Why, it is said that the jailer brought the 
apostles out of the prison into his own house, and 
there bathed their wounds, implying of course, 
that he had a bath there. Then it is immedi- 
ately added, ' he was baptized and all his house ; ' 



PEACTICE OF THE APOSTLES. 125 

evidently in the same bath which he had just 
used." 

"I fear you are stating the circumstances 
from imperfect recollection, and not with the 
book before you. As to the jail, we learn from 
verse 24, that it consisted of two parts, an outer 
and an inner prison, the latter evidently a dungeon, 
fitted up with stocks, etc. The keeper's house, 
as appears from verse 34, was in an upper story 
of the same building, the participle — aneg'agon 
— being literally, having brought them up into 
his house. So Prof. Hackett renders it, adding, 
' which appears to have been over the prison.' 

'-'- These facts show us very clearly what was 
done on that memorable night. First the jailer 
' brought them out ' of the dungeon into the 
outer prison. Not only is it not said that they 
left the house, but every thing is against that 
supposition. This was before he was converted, 
and before Paul had told him what to do to be 
saved; of course it was not done in order to 
be baptized, for baptism in that moment of 
intense alarm had not entered his thoughts. 
Besides, to have taken them from the prison itself, 
would have been to violate his duty as an oflScer, 
and expose himself to the very danger under the 



126 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

apprehension of which he was still trembling 
and ready to commit suicide, that of having 
permitted them to escape. For the Roman law 
was express, that the officer who should let an 
accused person escape, should himself suffer the 
same punishment that would have been due to 
him.-^ In this outer prison was doubtless the 
source of supply for water to the establishment. 
Alford suggests ' a well ' ; Hackett an ' implu- 
vium,' 'a, rectangular reservoir or basin for re- 
ceiving the rain which flowed from the slightly 
inclined roof.' At this, but certainly not in this, 
he washed the apostles' bleeding wounds, which 
was immediately reciprocated by the baptism of 
himself and all his family ; ' a beautiful inter- 
change of washings,' as Bengel calls it. I say, 
not in this, — for such an act would have polluted 
all the water of the prison, and besides, was 
contrary to what we know was the constant 
practice of the Greeks and Romans as to the 
mode of bathing. Having thus performed this 
double washing, the jailer brings the apostles up 
into his own apartments, and sets food before 



*' Nam ipsum volumus hujusmodi poenae consumi cui obnoxius do- 
cebitur fuisse qui fugerit." Wetstein in Alford's Com. on Act 16: 27. 



PRACTICE OF THE APOSTLES. 127 

them, after which they spend the night in re- 
joicing and praise to God." 

" But Dr. Carson interprets the story very 
differently," said Joseph. " ' Paul,' he says, 
'preached in the jailer's house, and after the bap- 
tism, was brought back to the house, which ap- 
pears to show that the baptism was at the 
Strymon, or some other place out of doors.' " 

'' Which only proves that his geography is as 
conjectural as his interpretation. Prof. Hackett, 
who has personally visited the place, expressly 
says that the Strymon • was at ' some distance ' 
from the city, and whether the Gangas was near 
enough to be accessible ' can not be decided.' 
That they went out of the prison at all is a mere 
guess, in the face of the most glaring inprobabil- 
ities. Remember that the hour was midnight; 
that the jailer was responsible with his life for 
their safe keeping ; and that next day, when the 
magistrates offered to let them go privately, they 
refused, saying that they had been publicly com- 
mitted and must be as publicly released. Did 
Paul, think you, say this while at the same time 
concious that the jailer and all his family, and 
possibly all the prisoners besides, knew that he 
had been clandestinely abroad during the night?" 



128 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" I think, my son," said Mrs. Mason, '' that 
you will have to give up this case. Strongly 
attached as we are to our views, it does not 
become us to insist on improbabilities in main- 
taining them." 

" Well, mother, if you give up, I don't know 
what will happen next. tJncle Charles has 
chosen his own way of discussing the subject, and 
has certainly succeeded in investing his positions 
with great plausibility. But I for one cannot 
go with him until he can convince me that all 
the learned world are wrong in the meaning they 
assign to haptizo^ and its derivatives used in 
giving a name to this Christian sacrament." 

"- 1 trust that will come in due time," said Mr. 
Stanley, smiling. " Just now we are considering 
the question, what the apostles did in fulfilling 
their commission. We have gone with them to 
all the instances in which they administered 
baptism, so far as they are recorded, and we 
see the result. We fail to find a single one 
which was clearly and unequivocally an immer- 
sion. Yet, by the theory that such is tlie uni- 
form and exclusive import of the word, we 
ought to have found them all such. Where, I 
ask, in all the range of literature, was ever such 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 129 

demands put forth in behalf of a word, which, 
in every recorded instance of actual use, it so 
utterly failed to substantiate ? " 

" We are ready now, are we not, father, for 
the evidence left us by the apostles of their 
understanding of their commission, in their teach- 
ings on the subject ?" inquired Mary. 

" Yes, and the first thing that strikes us here is 
to find how little prominence was given by them 
to the rite in any way. Only a very few times is 
it mentioned at all, and then only in the most 
casual manner. Most remarkable of all, it is 
never spoken of in a way that gives any certain 
clew to the mode in which it was to be adminis- 
tered. Does this look as if they regarded the 
mode as the very essence of the rite, so that if 
not done in this way, it was not done at all ? " 

''If I remember rightly," observed Arthur, 
'• Paul thanks God that he had baptized none of 
the Corinthians but Crispus and Gains." 

''Yes," said Mary, "and the household of 
Stephanas ; and he adds, ' For Christ sent me not 
to baptize, but to preach the gospel.' It is very 
evident that Paul was not as anxious to get peo- 
ple into the water as some we have seen in our 
day." 



130 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

'^ And yet, it would be wrong to infer that the 
rite was not important, or that the Corinthians 
were received to the church without it. It only 
teaches us that we are not to exalt the rite un- 
duly, making this, much less the form of it, one 
of the essentials of Christian faith or practice. 

" The most important of the apostolic allusions 
to baptism, at least as estimated by the great 
stress put upon it by our Baptist friends, is, un- 
doubtedly, that contained in Rom. 6 : 3-6 ; which 
Miss Nellie will please read to us. A similar 
allusion is also found in Col. 2 : 12." 

She read both the passages mentioned, and Mr. 
S. proceeded: — 

'^ The estimation in which these are held by 
Baptists is shown from the language of Dr. Car- 
son. ' I value the evidence of these passages so 
highly, that I look on them as perfectly decisive. 
They contain God's own explanation of his own 
ordinance. And in this I call upon my unlearned 
brethren to admire the Divine wisdom. They do 
not understand the original ; and the adoption of 
the words baptize and baptism can teach them 
nothing. But the evidence of the passages in 
question cannot be hid, and it is obvious to the 
most unlearned. The Spirit of God has, by this 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 131 

explanation, enabled them to judge for them- 
selves in this matter. While the learned are 
fighting about haptizo and certain Greek preposi- 
tions, let the unlearned turn to Rom. 6 : 4, and 
Col. 2: 12, etc.' (pp. 144, 145.) It becomes 
necessary, then, to examine them somewhat 
closely. 

" ' We are buried with Christ in baptism^' said 
the Apostle. Of course the figure implies that 
there is a resemblance between baptism and his 
burial. The point of inquiry before us is, what 
is that resemblance ? 

" Baptists say it consists in the form of bap- 
tism. A burial, in their view, is like immersion, 
in which a person is put under the water, just as 
one is put into a grave and covered up. ' What 
can be more conclusive ? ' they exclaim. ' Be- 
hold God's own exposition of the mode of bap- 
tism.' And ignorant and unthinking persons, 
not perceiving the deep spiritual meaning under- 
lying the figure, are carried away by this super- 
ficial resemblance, which, after all, is Avholly 
imaginary. I have no doubt that, practically, 
this fancy has more to do in determining men's 
opinions as to the form of the rite, than all other 
arguments together." 



132 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

''"What!" exclaimed Mary, ''more than the 
baptism in Jordan, and the going down into^ and 
coming up out of^ the water ? " 

" Yes," replied her father, " more than these; 
indeed, I only repeat to you what a very intelli- 
gent Baptist avowed to me not long since, as to 
the impression on his own mind. 

" This is one of the passages in which is set 
before us, in a figure, the effect of the Spirit's 
work in the soul. As that work is symbolized by 
baptism, it is said to be done in or by — dia — 
baptism. We are buried with Christ, of course 
made dead to sin, by baptism. 

" Now there are several other figures, no less 
striking, in which the same work is similarly set 
forth. One was that used by our Lord himself, 
in his conversation with Nicodemus, ' Except a 
man be horn of water and of the Spirit, he can- 
not enter into the kingdom of God.' That refer- 
ence was here made to baptism, I think, cannot 
be doubted ; for although the Christian ordinance 
had not been instituted, yet John's baptism, with 
which Nicodemus was familiar, was of divine 
authority, and in its one idea of repentance, or 
spiritual renovation, had the same import. 

"Another figure was used by the apostle in 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 133 

Gal. 3 : 27. ' As many of you as have been bap- 
tized into Christ, have put on Christ.' This pas- 
sage is remarkably similar in its very language 
and form to the one under consideration. The 
figure is that of putting on a new garment in 
place of the old one. Elsewhere, it is ' putting 
off the old man, and putting on the new.' 

''In Acts 22: 16, baptism is represented as a 
washing. ' Arise, and be baptized, and wash 
away, thy sins.' 

" A fourth instance is found in 1 Peter 3 : 21, 
'Baptism doth now save us — not the putting 
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer" of 
a good conscience toward God.' This expression 
is obscure, and commentators are not entirely 
agreed as to its meaning. Most suppose it is an 
allusion to the questions which used to be put to 
candidates for baptism, as to their faitli and pen- 
itence, which, if they could answer with a good 
conscience, they were accepted. In this view, 
the phrase is nearly equivalent to ' professing a 
good profession.' 1 Tim. 6 : 12. 

" Still again the figure of a resurrection is used. 
Col. 2:12.' Baptism, wherein also je are risen 
with him, through the faith of the operation of 
God.' 



134 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

'' Here, then, are no less than six different 
things, (and several others might be added, as 
being crucified, being enlightened, etc.), which 
we are expresslj^ said to do in baptism. We are 
born anew ; we are washed ; we pid on a new gai^- 
ment ; wq put in an answer; we are buried; we 
rise from the dead. We do all these in the same 
rite, and do them all at once. Now, what sort of 
a rite must that be which, by its form -or mode, 
gives rise to all these dissimilar and conflicting 
images ? one which makes ns to be born when 
we are washed, to answer inquiries when we are 
buried, and to rise from the dead when we put 
on a garment ? The very supposition is an ab- 
surdity, and shows that outward form is not to 
be thought of." 

'' But," said Joseph, '^'baptism may have sug- 
gested the figure of a burial, because there is a 
real likeness to it in an immersion, which does 
not exist in other cases. No form of baptism 
ever thought of is like a birth, or a putting on 
of a garment, or a rising from the dead." 

'' True, and immersion is as little like the en- 
tombment of Christ. Recall for a moment what 
that burial was : 

" 1. The body was closely wrapped in cloths 
from head to foot, inclosing aromatic drugs. 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 135 

" 2. It was lifted from the earth and carried 
into the tomb, not walking in itself, as a candi- 
date for immersion walks into the water. 

" 3. The tomb was a room above ground, cut 
in the solid rock, similar, doubtless, to the num- 
erous tombs still existing around Jerusalem, in 
which persons sometimes reside. Compare Luke 
8: 27. 

" 4. The body was laid upon a shelf or 
niche. 

" 6. No enveloping element, whether water or 
earth, was permitted to come into contact with 
it. 

" 6. The body was left in the tomb, not 
thrust in for a moment and immediately taken 
out again. 

" 7. The entrance was closed and sealed up, 
that nobody might open the tomb, and remove 
the body. 

" Now what appreciable resemblance to all this 
is it for a person to wade into a tank waist-deep, 
accompanied by another in waterproof garments 
to avoid being wetted, and there to have his 
head and shoulders dipped for a moment by the 
latter, beneath the water ? I confess I can see 
very little. Say, if you please, that there is the 



136 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

one idea of inness^ or putting in, common to 
both, yet how very far is this from determining 
absolutely the form of the rite, like one of the 
carefally framed statutes of the ancient ritual, so 
exactly defining and enacting it that not to do it 
in this way is not to do it at all ? 

'' We are to seek then the source of all this 
imagery not in the form of the outward rite but 
in its spiritual signification. Baptism is the sym- 
bol of moral renovation by the Spirit of God. 
That renovation is a new birth, a washing, a put- 
ting on of Christ, the answer of a good con- 
science, a burial to sin, a resurrection. It is each 
and all at the same time, without confusion or 
contradiction. When a key fits a lock having 
half a dozen wards, we know it is the right key ; 
when it fits but one of the six, we are sure it 
was never made for the place. This view, and 
this alone, harmonizes with the apostle's reason- 
ing here. An objector to his doctrine of justifi- 
cation by grace says, it is an encouragement to 
sin. ' No,' says Paul, ' it is not, for a baptized 
person is dead to sin ; nay, more, he is buried in 
the tomb with his Lord, and is no longer suscep- 
tible to its power. Henceforth, his life is hid 
with Christ in God.' This is good reasoning, if 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 137 

the baptism he means is the real work of the 
Spirit in the soul. But if it be the outward rite, 
an immersion, the reasoning would be, ' No, it is 
not an encouragement to sin, for the man has 
been into the baptistery ! ' 

'' Observe further, that apart from these two 
passages, baptism is never either in the Old Tes- 
tament or the New made a symbol of death or 
of burial, but universally of purification. Death 
was to a Jewish mind always associated with im- 
purity. A dead body was unclean ; a grave a 
place of corruption. To have made baptism sym- 
bolical of either would have been to render it 
the most repulsive thing possible. But the com- 
plex spiritual idea of dying loitJi Christ., and of 
being dead to sin^ was the idea of purification ; of 
getting rid of the old corrupt man and all its 
pollution, and entering upon a new life of holi- 
ness; and this is just what baptism as a rite of 
cleansing is fitted to signify. There are but two 
sacraments under the Christian dispensation, the 
Lord's Supper and baptism. The former repre- 
sents the death of Christ ; why should the other 
do the same ? And if both are emblematic of 
his death and burial, where is the rite which 
shows the Spirit's work ? 



188 THE MODE OlE! BAPTISM. 

'' On this point, the remarks of Prof. Stuart 
are very weighty. ' Under the ancient dispensa- 
tion,' says he, ' the rites were divided into two 
great classes, viz., those significant of purity/ or 
purification^ and those significant of atonement for 
sin. Nothing could be more appropriate than 
this. Man needed the one and the other, in 
order to find acceptance with God; the one is 
the work of the Spirit, and the other of the 
Saviour, who redeemed us by his blood. Is there 
any change in the essential conditions of salvation 
under the new dispensation ? None, we must 
answer. Are not the significant symbols, then, 
under the new dispensation, a summary of those 
which existed under the old ? The belief of this 
spontaneously forces itself upon my mind. The 
work of the Spirit is still symbolized under the 
gospel, and a Saviour's blood is still represented. 
The one baptism signifies ; the other is as plainly 
indicated by the Lord's Supper.' " Am. Bib. 
Rep. Vol. 3. p. 269. 

''Oh ! Mr. Stanley," said NeUie, ''you have de- 
stroyed one of the most affecting aspects of this 
sacrament to me. I have often heard of being 
' buried with Christ in baptism,' and have always 
supposed the phrase had reference to this rite. I 



TEACHllSrGS OF THE APOSTLES. 139 

have seen ministers lead happy converts down 
into what they called ' the liquid grave,' and as 
they came up have heard them sing : 

' Thou hast said, exalted Jesus, 

*' Take thy cross and follow me : ' 

Shall thy word with terror seize us, 

Shall we from the burden flee ? 

Lord I'll take it, 

And, rejoicing, follow thee. 

* While this liquid tomb surveying, 
Emblem of my Saviour's grave, 
Shall I shun its brink, betraying 
Feelings worthy of a slave ? 
No. I'll enter; 
Jesus entered Jordan's wave. 

' Should it rend some fond connection, 

Should I suffer shame or loss, 
Yet the fragrant, blest reflection, 
I have been where Jesus was, 
Will revive me, 
When I faint beneath the cross.' 

" Now is all this a mistake? Do not persons in 
their baptism follow Christ into the grave, and 
from it rise again with him to a new life of holi- 
ness ? " 

'' I answer yoi^," said Mr. Stanley, '' by return- 
ing your own questions. Do persons, in the out- 
ward rite of baptism, immersion — in a baptis- 



i 



140 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

tery, if you please, — become dead to sin, and 
are they then really buried with Christ? Has 
not the baptism which effects that^ the work of 
the Holy Ghost, taken place previously ? Is it 
not one of the fundamental principles of the 
Baptists that only believers, — that is renewed or 
spiritually baptized persons, — are to be admitted 
to baptism ? That death to sin has been expe- 
rienced, — it is a thing of the past, already hav- 
ing evidenced itself by confession and fruits 
meet for repentance. Cornelius was buried with 
Christ in baptism when the Holy Ghost fell upon 
him. Suppose that he never received the out- 
ward rite, that fact would have remained all 
the same. All truly regenerated souls are in 
this respect alike, whether they ever receive 
water-baptism or not. Even we Pedobaptists, 
who have only been sprinkled, are, so far, pre- 
cisely on the same footing with Baptists them- 
selves. It is not denied that we are Christians, 
regenerated by the Spirit, the only baptism that 
makes dead to sin and entombs with Christ. 
When, therefore, they tell us that we have not 
been baptized, because not immersed, and yet ad- 
mit that we have had the baptism in which souls 
are buried with Jesus, it is only the same thing 
as saying that that baptism is not immersion. 



TEACHII^GS OF THE APOSTLES. 141 

*' Besides, if you take the opposite view, you 
have, in its most repulsive form, baptismal regen- 
eration. If we are buried with Christ in immer- 
sion^ then immersion becomes a saving ordinance. 
Not tender, helpless babes — for they are never 
permitted to come to this rite-r-but adults of every 
age, have only to go into the baptistery to be- 
come dead to sin, and alive to God through 
Jesus Christ ! " 

" But uncle," said Joseph, " you do not surely 
intend to charge such a doctrine as that upon us. 
We do not pretend that in immersion we are ac- 
tually buried with Christ, but only symbolically 
so ; and from the thing symbohzed, we think we 
are instructed what the form of the symbol 
should be." 

" Yes, but you deny us the right to reason in 
the same way. We hold that baptism is a sym- 
bol of ' the washing of regeneration, and renew- 
ing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us 
abundantly through Jesus Christ,' (Tit. 8 : 5, 6.), 
and we think that the thing symbolized teaches 
us what the form of the symbol should be. We 
think, too, that ours is the more perfect symbol, 
because it is a real pouring, whereas immersion is 
not a real burial, nor even a resemblance to one, 



142 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

unless it be a burial in the sea. It certainly was 
not like the tearful laying away of the sacred 
body of Jesus in the virgin tomb of Joseph. 

" The truth is that baptism, whatever its mode, 
is an emblem of a spiritual operation, which 
strictly speaking has no form. That operation is 
imaged to us in a great many ways. Now there 
is no objection to making the form of our out- 
ward symbol, water-baptism, like any one of 
these. We think the sprinkling or pouring ap- 
propriate, — you immersion. We find the like- 
ness in one mode, you in another. There is no 
harm in this so long as neither of us insist that 
ours is the only permissible one, and do not ex- 
communicate each other for using, in this resgect, 
the liberty with which Christ hath made us 
free. 

"- Our next important allusion in the teaching 
of the apostles to the subject of baptism, is in 
1 Cor. 10 : 1-2. ' All our fathers were under the 
cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were 
all baptized unto Mos&s in the cloud and in the 
sea.' " 

'^ This is one of the passages," said Joseph, 
" which we claim as teaching immersion." 

'' How .do you make that out ? " said Mary. 



TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 143 

'' Surely, the only persons immersed on that occa- 
sion were the Egyptians." 

" The Hebrews were at least surrounded by 
water. The cloud was above them, and the sea 
standing in loftj^ walls on either side. Besides, it 
is expressly said they were baptized in the cloud 
and in the sea." 

'' But the cloud," said Mr. Stanley, " was not 
a watery cloud. It was the supernatural symbol 
of God's presence, — the Shechinah, Avhich at 
night was a pillar of fire. Neither were they 
tender it in a local sense, but simply under its 
guidance and protection. Locally, it was before 
them until they began the passage of the sea, 
when it withdrew and took its position behind 
them. As to the sea-walls, they must have been 
far apart — probably several miles ; for it can be 
demonstrated that nothing less than such a space 
would have been sufficient for the passage of 
three millions of people, with immense flocks and 
herds, in a single night. Underneath them was 
dry ground. Nothing like envelopment then, by 
the cloud or by the sea, can be imagined here. 
We must not make Paul's account contri^dict 
that of Moses. The Greek word en^ as we have 
seen before, very often means %, denoting the in- 



144 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

strumental agent. They were baptized hy the 
cloud and the sea, i, e, by the Shechinah of the 
Divine Presence, and the miracle of the divided 
waters. Such an amazing interposition in their 
behalf was like a sacramental oath, consecrating 
them to Moses as God's vicegerent, and solemnly 
binding them to his service. 

" In this case, then there was no outward rite 
whatever. It was a purely ideal baptism, called 
such not because of any form, for there was 
none, but because of its effect. The miracle 
bound the nation to Moses, as Christians are con- 
secrated by their baptism to Christ. It was to 
them what that is to us, just as the manna and 
the waters of the rock were to them what the 
Lord's supper is to us. The design of the*apos- 
tle was to show that the Jewish people consti- 
tuted a church, with its two sacraments, and 
were therein a type of the Christian church and 
its sacraments." 

"The next passage in order," said Arthur, ''is 
1 Cor. 12 : 13. ' For hy one Spirit are we all 
baptized into one hody^ whether we be Jews or 
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and have 
been all made to drink into one Spirit.' " 

" It is important to us in this discussion," said 



TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 145 

his father, " as showing that the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit, represented to us so constantlj^ un- 
der the image of a pouring out, is experienced 
by all Christians, and was not confined to what 
might be regarded as the special occasions when 
miraculous gifts were conferred, as in the case of 
Christ and his apostles, and others in the primi- 
tive church. And this shows us, too, what kind 
of baptism the apostle referred to when he spoke 
of being buried with Christ. All true behevers 
have this baptism, all are hj it made dead to sin, 
which is not true of the outward rite. How 
plainly, therefore, is the reference to the former 
and not to the latter." 

''In Ephesians 4:5, we have the expression, 
' One Lord, one faith, one baptism^^ " said Mary, 
" but I do not know that this will help us any in 
respect to the subject of inquirj'." 

''A short time since," said Arthm% ''I heard a 
Baptist minister, on reading this text, remark, 
' There, you see, Paul declares there is only one 
wai/ of baptism, and he certainly knew.' " 

" Of course," replied his father, "he presumed 
on the ignorance of his auditors. The connec- 
tion of the verse shows that no reference at all 
was intended to the mode of baptism. Paul was 



146 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

making an appeal for Christian unity — such a one 
as I could wish were made anew to us all at the 
present day — from the oneness of the Christian 
system, in which all true disciples are embraced. 
' We have,' says he, ' one Lord, one faith, one 
baptism,' i. e. one ordinance of consecration to 
him. Nobody pretends that we and our breth- 
ren have different baptisms. We alike profess 
to believe in and to practice that one baptism 
which Christ has appointed. The only question 
is Jiow we shall do it. An argument from this 
expression for one mode alone, can excite only 
our pity at the ignorance or the disingenuous- 
ness of him who uses it." 

" The passage in 1 Peter 3 : 20, 21," said Nelhe, 
'' you have alreadj^ referred to, but did not ex- 
plain the allusion contained in it to the baptism 
of Noah and his family in the waters of the 
flood." 

'\ No such baptism is asserted of them," replied 
Mr. Stanley, " either here or elsewhere. It is 
simply said that Noah and his family — eight 
souls in all — were saved by water. That is, the 
water buoying up the ark with its inmates, saved 
them from the destruction which came upon the 
rest of mankind. It is not said that they were bap- 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 147 

tized either in the water or in the ark. But the 
mention of ivater as the instrument of saving the 
patriarch, suggests to him Christian baptism, 
which he says ' doth also now save us,' — ^. e. of 
course, meaning that spiritual renovation of 
Avhich baptism is the emblem." 

'' But," said Joseph, '^ the apostle asserts that 
baptism was ' a like figure unto ' the deluge ; 
which certainly was an immersion on the grand- 
est scale, covering the whole world and all its 
inhabitants except the family of Noah." 

" An unfortunate proof text, I think, for the 
immersionists, for the only persons really im- 
mersed at that time were the impenitent, lb 
is a curious and amusing specimen of per- 
sistency in pushing a theory beyond the bounds 
of reason or sense, that is exhibited by Carson, 
in maintaining that Noah and his family were 
saved hy immersion in the waters of the deluge. 
' The ordinance of baptism,' says he, ' and the 
salvation of Noah by water, have the most lively 
resemblance. Noah and his family were saved hy 
being buried in the water of the flood ; and after the 
flood, they emerged as rising from the grave.' 
(p. • 462.) ' What could be a more expressive 
burial in water than to be in the ark, when it 



148 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

was floating? As well might it be said that a 
person is not buried in earth when lying in his 
coffin covered with earth. May not persons in a 
ship be said figuratively to be buried in the sea ? 
They who were in the ark were deeply im- 
mersed.' (p. 418.) And because the venerable 
Dr. Miller cannot se6 the immersion here. Dr. 
Carson scolds at him in this fashion. ' With as 
great propriety, the learned gentleman may deny 
that a man in a tomb is buried, because he is 
covered with a coffin. What ! Noah not im- 
mersed when buried in the waters of the flood? 
Are there no bounds to perverseness ? Will 
men say everything rather than admit the mode 
of an ordinance of Christ, which is contrary to 
the commandments of men? ' " (p. 388.) 

" What then is the meaning of the expression, 
' the like figure whereunto ? ' " asked Joseph. 

'' That expression is a paraphrase rather than 
a translation of the original. Literally it would 
read • ' water, v»7"hich, an antitype — antitupon 
— also now saves us.' That is, water, the ' cor- 
responding particular,' as Alford explains it, 
to that which saved Noah, now saves us also. 
That correspondence is solely in the fact that it 
was the same element in both cases. There is no 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 149 

reference to the quantity or mode of action in 
either case ; indeed, the passage as a whole, has 
not the remotest bearing upon the subject now 
under consideration. 

" The next passage," continued Mr. Stanley, 
'' that calls for our consideration, is in Heb. 
9:10." 

Miss Ashton read the passage, adding, " I do 
not see any allusion to baptism here." 

"You will in a moment," he replied. ''The 
apostle Avas contrasting the rites of the ceremo- 
nial law, as a means of purifying the soul, with 
the blood of Christ which was shed once for all. 
These rites, he says, consisted only of ' meats and 
drinks and divers washings and carnal or- 
dinances imposed on them until the time of 
reformation.' The word ' washings ' is in the 
original, baptisms ; carnal ordinances are literally 
ordinances of the fleshy that is, which pertain to 
the body only in contrast with the expiatory 
blood of Jesus, which is applied to the heart. 
The more exact sense of the passage then is this ; 
— ' meats and drinks and various baptisms^ or- 
dinances pertaining to the external man, imposed 
by the law until the time of the readjustraent 
of things under the Messiah,' 



150 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

'' Now if we turn to the ancient law to seek 
for these ordinances, we shall find that they 
prescribed numerous ceremonies in which a 
fluid was used, as blood, or oil, or water, or 
water mixed with the ashes of a heifer, to 
signify the idea of purification. These rites were 
of various kinds, as applied to different persons, 
and on different occasions, but there was one fact 
of great significance common to them all, viz., 
that with a single exception in a peculiar case, 
there was never an immersion among them all. 
This fact we have before noted in our considera- 
tion of John's baptism, but it needs to be dis- 
tinctly repeated here. Yet the one Greek word 
selected by the apostle to designate them com- 
prehensively, is BAPTISMS. Probably the same 
thing is alluded to in Heb. 6 : 2, where Paul 
speaks of the 'doctrine of baptisms,' as among the 
elementary things which Christians should leave 
behind, and pass on to the higher matters per- 
taining to a spiritual manhood.i 

" Let me repeat also what was before said as 



"It includes in the idea those various washings which were under 
the law, the baptism of John, and even Christian baptism also perhaps 
included, the nature of which, and their distinctions from one another, 
would naturally be one of the fundamental and primary objects of 
teaching to Hebrew converts," Alford, Comm. in loc. 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 151 

to the actual practice of the Hebrews. It is, 
certainly, very possible, in such a climate as 
that of Arabia and Palestine, that some of the 
numerous washings required were performed at 
pools or rivulets, whenever such collections of 
water were accessible. Persons may have bathed 
themselves, and cleansed their garments in the 
streams. But this was no part of the law ; and 
as a general rule must have been impracticable. 
During forty years the Hebrews were in the 
desert, where running water was rarely to be 
found, and even fountains and wells often failed 
to afford a sufficiency for drinking. Look, then, 
at the laws requiring ablution as contained in the 
14th, 15th and 16th chapters of Leviticus, and 
the 19th of Numbers, and see how frequently and 
by what vast numbers of persons it must have 
been performed, and you cannot escape the con- 
viction that it was not and could not have been 
always done by immersion, and that it would be 
in the highest degree unreasonable so to interpret 
the law as to make it obligatory. 

" Nay, the apostle himself expressly specifies 
some of these ' baptisms ' in this very chapter. 
They were ' the blood of bulls and of goats, and 
the ashes of a heifer sprinlding the unclean.' 



152 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

' And almost all things are, by the law, purged 
by blood, and, without shedding of blood, is no 
remission.' 'It was therefore necessary,' he says, 
' that the patterns,' or types, ' of things in the 
heavens should be purified with these,' viz.^ 
sprinklings or baptisms. In contrast with which, 
he sets forth the vital efficacy of the blood of 
Christ, and adds the exhortation, ' Let us draw 
near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, 
having our hearts sprinkled iiom an evil con- 
science, and our bodies washed with pure water.' 
Surely it cannot be possible to mistake the allu- 
sion here to the one efficacious Christian baptism, 
by the blood of Christ and the water which 
symbolizes it, in contrast with all those ritual 
baptisms of the old law which could not effect 
internal purification. And just as little possible 
for a candid mind is it to mistake the form, viz., 
sprinkling^ under which both kinds of baptisms 
are set forth." 

''This view of the matter," said Arthur, "is 
certainly very forcible. But the argument is 
wholly lost to ordinary readers of the Scriptures, 
inasmuch as the word used in the tenth verse is 
' washings ' and not ' baptisms.' It is a pity that 
our translators did not transfer the original word, 



TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES. 153 

as in other cases, rather than give lis this com- 
paratively unmeaning substitute for it." 

" So I think," said Mary. " We should not, 
in that case, have been so often asked for exam- 
ples of a sprinkling-baptism in the Scriptures." 

'' There is one passage more," proceeded Mr. 
Stanley, '' which I wish to notice in this connec- 
tion. " It occurs in 1 John, 5:8. ' There are 
three that bear witness, [in earth^] the Spirit, 
and the water, and the blood, and these three 
agree in one.' " • 

"- Does this passage allude to baptism ? " asked 
NeUie. 

'^ I think it does, and in a very interesting 
manner. The apostle is referring to the proof 
that Jesus is the Son of God, and that we have 
eternal life in him. To this fact, he says there 
are three witnesses. Opinions differ as to what 
precisely are intended bj'^ these. Dean Alford's 
view, I think, is the best. The Spirit is the Holy 
Spirit, 'who testifies of Christ (John 15: 26), 
who glorifies him, and shows of the things which 
belong to him, (John 16 : 14).' The water is 
' the baptism of water which the Lord himself 

1 It is now conceded by nearly all scholars that these words, as well 
as the entire seventh verse are spurious. 



154 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

underwent, and instituted for his followers.' 
The bloody ' the baptism of blood which he him- 
self underwent, and instituted for his followers.' 
Now we know in what way two, at least, of these 
witnesses gave their testimony. The Spirit was 
poured out; the blood was shed; did the third 
testify in a different way ? 

'' I do not claim that this peculiar utterance of 
the apostle is a demonstration of the matter be- 
fore us, but it is certainly suggestive, and very 
interesting. It is one of the incidental allusions 
which show how this Christian rite was associ- 
ated in his mind, and which are conceded to be 
often more convincing than elaborate argument. 
The three witnesses are the three baptisms in 
which the believer has a common experience with 
his Lord, ' and these three agree in one.'' 

''We will now conclude our conversation for 
this time, and resume it, if you please, next 
Monday evening. It will not be convenient for 
me to meet you again sooner." 



CLASSIC USAGE. 165 



CHAPTER V. 

CLASSIC USAGE. 

IT was very manifest that the discussions of the 
previous evenings had not been without their 
effect on the minds of those who had engaged in 
them. That Arthur and Mary should be con- 
firmed in the views in which they had been 
trained, was a matter of course. Even Joseph 
Mason had lost something of the confidence with 
which he had entered into the proposed plan of 
study. The unusual course of the discussion 
adopted by Mr. Stanley had embarrassed him, 
depriving him, as he said, of the potent argument 
which Baptists had been wont to derive from the 
alleged classic use of the words haptizo and bap- 
tisma^ and which has far too generally been con- 
ceded to them, as favoring the exclusive sense of 
immersion. And yet he could not deny that his 



156 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

uncle's course was a reasonable one. As a law- 
yer, called to an investigation of an ancient stat- 
ute, he must seek for the interpretation of that 
statute in contemporary facts, — the circum- 
stances in which it was enacted, the objects to be 
secured by it, the known sentiments and usage 
of the author of the law, his attendants, and 
ministers. Other considerations derived- from 
literary peculiarities, and the usages of foreign 
nations, of different culture, institutions and re- 
ligion, must be held secondary in importance to 
these. Thus viewed, he could not but perceive 
that the argument went nearly all one way, and 
if he had not defended his own ground more 
fully and strenuously, it was, chiefly, as his 
cousin Mary had sportively hinted, because he 
found but little to say. Miss Ashton was re- 
served in the expression of her feelings, but was, 
nevertheless, w^orking out to clear convictions on 
the subject. Her thoughts were not so much en- 
grossed with the exclusive claims of the Baptists, 
as with the question what she should do if Jo- 
seph should persist in them, and should finally 
urge compliance with them upon her. However, 
she resolved to wait patiently the issue, commit- 
ting herself silently, meanwhile, to the care of 



CLASSIC USAGE. 157 

Him who kneAv her heart, and had pi*omised to 
his disciples the Comforter, who should guide 
them into all truth. Mrs. Mason was, probably, 
of all the party, the least impressed by what had 
been said. She was a Baptist from the force of 
circumstances, and not from an independent in- 
vestigation of the subject, and, of course, was 
less susceptible to conviction from the side of 
such an investigation than from any other. 

On the return of the evening designated, 
our friends took their places, as before, round 
the table of Mrs. Mason, and resumed the discus- 
sion. 

''We have now," said Mr. Stanley, " finished 
our examination of the Scripture evidence, bear- 
ing upon the subject before us. We have seen 
what means the apostles had for understanding 
Christ, in the commission he gave them, — from 
their personal knowledge of the rite, from the use 
of haptizo and kindred words in the ancient 
Scriptures, from the customary speech of the 
Jewish people at that time, including our Lord 
himself, and from the higher baptism of the Holy 
Spirit, of which this rite was to be the symbol. 
Then we saw what they did^ when they actually 
administered baptism, looking at all the recorded 



158 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

cases in the New Testament. And lastly, we ex- 
amined what they said and. taught in their own 
preaching and writings. From all which, we 
gather the following conclusions : 

^' 1. That they understood baptism to be a 
rite of purification^ symbolical of the work of the 
Holy Spirit in regenerating the soul, to be admin- 
istered by the application of water to the person, 
in which he is consecrated to the service of the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 

" 2. That the mode of applying this water is 
not prescribed, the word itself being 3. generic 
term denoting purification, and not limiting the 
act to any mode. 

"3. That the scrip tual pattern of that method 
was twofold, one, conformable to the Jewish 
mode of ritual cleansing, by sprinkling^ the 
other, derived from the higher baptism of the 
Holy Spirit, by pouring ; both, however, as sym- 
bolizing the same thing, equivalent to each other, 
and interchangeable at pleasure. 

" And now I appeal to you all, not even ex- 
cepting Aunt Emily and Cousin Joseph, whether, 
taking the Scriptures alone for our authority, 
these are not fair conclusions. Could you, Jo- 
seph, as a lawyer, called to investigate an ancient 



CLASSIC USAGE. 159 

document and decide upon its own proper teach- 
ing, aided, of course, by what is known of the 
habits, opinions, and circumstances of the people 
among whom it originated, come to any other re- 
sult?" 

" Perhaps not, replied Joseph, " with the field 
of inquiry thus limited. But you have as yet ex- 
cluded what we regard as the most important 
part of that field, viz., that of classic usage.''^ 

"Well, I am ready now to enter that part of it 
with you, if you desire. But first, let us see 
clearly what we are to go there for." 

" Why, of course, to ascertain how the native 
Greek or classic writers understood the word 
baptizo,^^ 

" Well, to what end ? " 

" If it is thus proved that they used it always 
and only in the sense of to immerse, then we 
have established the very strong presumption 
that Christ would use it in the same sense." 

" A presumption that he would^ perhaps, but 
not the fact that he did. What the fact was, we 
have already ascertained in another way, and no 
presumption can alter that. It might show that 
he ought to have so used it, if he would have the 
reputation of using pure Greek, but I do not 



160 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

know that he ever aspired to that. He spoke to 
be understood by his followers ; we cannot doubt 
that he was understood ; and we have seen what 
that understanding was. If all the native Greeks 
from Inachus down, poets, -historians, rhetori- 
cians, and orators, had always used the word 
otherwise, it would not alter his meaning. It is 
that, and that only, which is law to us." 

'' You seem to imply, sir," said Joseph, '' that 
our Saviour spoke a different language from that 
of the native Greeks." 

" So he did, in some important respects ; in- 
deed, so great is this difference that it has been 
called the ' Greek of the Synagogue,' to distin- 
guish it from that of the classic writers. We 
have Lexicons peculiar to each, and if we should 
read the New Testament by the classic Lexicons 
alone, or the classics by the N. T. Lexicons, we 
should make each say very often what would 
have no truth or sense. 

''For the explanation of this important fact, 
let me refer you to some historical statements. 
Greek was introduced into Asia with the inva- 
sion of Alexander, b. c. 334-323, and being the 
language of the conquerors and their successors, 
became in one or two hundred years the prevail- 



CLASSIC USAGE. 161 

ing tongue in the East. At this time Hebrew 
had ceased to be spoken, having never recovered 
from the blow given to the nation by the captiv- 
ity in Babjdon. When, therefore, the Jews 
sought to diffuse a knowledge of their Scriptures 
and religion among their own people and others, 
they were almost shut up to the necessity of 
making the Greek language the instrument for so 
doing. The Scriptures were translated into it at 
Alexandria, by the Seventy, about B. c. 280. 
We need, then, only to remember that the Jews, 
as related to the Greek, were foreigners, or bar- 
barians^ as a Greek scholar would have termed 
them, whose vernacular in its structure and 
genius had scarcely a trace of affinity with it, 
and that they were in every way pre-eminently a 
' peculiar people,' to see that the language, in 
their use of it, would inevitably be subjected to 
important modifications. Perhaps no two races 
were evermore unlike in their history, their re- 
ligion and philosophy, their education and law 
and politics, their manners and customs, every 
thing, in short, that needed or was accustomed 
to find expression in words, than the Hellenistic 
tribes that inhabited the shores and isles of the 
iEgean, and the Hebraistic tribes that dwelt on 



162 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

the sacred soil of Palestine. And, certainly, no 
language was ever subjected to such a sti^ain^ if I 
may use the word, as that of the former, with 
all its copiousness and flexibility, when it was 
thus taken to be the vehicle for expressing, not 
only to the Jews themselves, but, through the 
New Testament, to all the world, in all time, the 
peculiar conceptions and teachings of the latter. 
" A few examples will serve to illustrate these 
statements. Take, then, the greatest, in . the 
Jewish estimation, of all words — the sacred and 
incommunicable name, Jehoyah; what could 
they find in the language of the heathen Greeks 
to represent it ? The nearest word was Kiirios^ 
meaning an owner or proprietor, the lord of an 
estate. Or take the word God, denoting the in- 
finite Deity ; they could find nothing better as its 
counterpart than Theos^ literally a Runner^ be- 
cause the sun, moon, and planets, the greater di- 
vinities of the Greeks, moved or ran across the 
heavens, in their daily circuits.^ If you should 
have asked a heathen Greek what Paul meant hi 
1 Cor. 8: 6, ' To us there is one Theos ; ' he 
might have pointed you to Zeus, his greatest 



iDonnegan's Lex. Others derive it from tiihemi to set or fix ; i. e. 
one who establishes. 



CLASSIC USAGE. 163 

god, who lived on Mt. Olympus, eating and 
drinking ambrosia and nectar, the husband of a 
Thea named Hera, or Juno, with whom he was 
almost perpetually quarreling on account of his 
adulteries, and lies, and disgraceful tricks, and 
say, ' I suppose Paul means that you Christians 
worship but one such being, while we worship 
millions of them.' Take the words for righteous- 
ness, sin, holiness, faith, love, heaven, spirit,^ re- 
surrection, and a thousand more, and he would 
as little know what, in their new use, they signi- 
fied. So with Christ, the word, the church, min- 



il)r. Edwin Hall relates the foMowing incident. 

" Some years since 1 met with a man who was liberally educated, a 
thorough scholar, an able lawyer, and possessed of splendid natural 
abilities, but skeptical in his views of religion. With this man I un- 
dertook to reason of the necessity of being born of the Holy Ghost. 
Now the word in the Greek Testament for ghost, or spirit, is pneuma^ 
which, originally, and in the classic Greek most commonly meant 
wind. This man would have me argue by book. He then turned to 
the Greek Testament, (John 3:5). ' See here,' says he, 'it reads, and 
you know it reads, " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be 
born of water and of wind, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 
What right ' said he, ' have you to change the original, classic mean- 
ing of pneuma, wind, here, anymore than you have of hudatos^ water? 
And see further,' said he, ' there is the same word in the eighth verse, 
letter for letter, and there jow do not say, " The Spirit bloweth where 
it listeth; " you say, '' The 2^mc/ bloweth where it listeth." ' He was 
right in the original, classic use of the word. And if I had argued on 
the principles on which our Baptist brethren have argued, I should have 
been obliged to allow that the renewing by the Spirit of God, or even 
the personal existence of such a Spirit, is not taught or referred to in 
this passage." ^^.udQ of Baptism pp. 15, 16. 



164 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

ister, deacon, the Bible, the supper, etc. So too 
with the word haptlsm. These all express ideas 
Avhich the heathen had never heard of, and of 
course implied uses which he never made of 
them. Shall we go to him to tell us what thej 
must mean ; and then turn out of our Christian 
fellowship all who will not take his explanation 
of them, as the very truth as it is in Jesus ? " 

"These statements are very strong, father," 
said Mary, '^ and if they may be taken in their 
full force, they must' carry great weight with 
them. Can you quote authorities to substantiate 
them ?. " , 

" Certainly, my daughter, nearly every scholar 
who has written on the subject. Here is what 
Dr. George Campbell of Scotland says, — 

'' 'With the greatest justice, it is denominated 
a peculiar idiom, being not only Hebrew and 
Chaldaic phrases put in Greek words, but even 
single Greek words used in senses in which the}^ 
never occur in the writings of profane authors. 
. . . Classical use, both in the Greek and in the 
Latin, is not only in this study sometimes una- 
vailable, but may even mislead. The sacred use 
and the classical are often very different.' Pre- 
lim. Diss. vol. 1: pp. 32, 68. 



CLASSIC USAGE. 1()5 

''Here, likewise, is the testimony of Prof. 
Ernesti, of Germany, one of the first critics and 
scholars of the last century: — 

'' ' We deny without hesitation that the diction 
of the New Testament is pure Greek, and con- 
tend that it is modeled after the Hebrew, not 
only in single words, phrases, and figures of 
speech, but in the general texture of the lan- 
guage. — Nay, many parts of the New Testa- 
ment can be explained in no other way than by 
means of the Hebrew. Moreover, in many pas- 
sages, there would arise an absurd and ridiculous 
meaning, if they should be interpreted according 
to a pure Greek idiom.' pp. 66, 57. 

" Similar to these is the language of Prof. Stu- 
art : — 

'' Classical usage can never be very certain in 
respect to the meaning of a word in the New 
Testament. Who does not know that a multi- 
tude of Greek words have received, their coloring 
and particular meaning from the Hebrew and not 
from the Greek classics? How then can jon be 
over confident in the application of the classical 
meaning of haptizo^ when the word is employed 
in relation to a rite that is purely Christian ? ' 

" Prof. Geo. H. Whittemore, in the Baptist 



166 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Quarterly for Jan., 1874, says, ' There is another, 
the Christian element of the New Testament 
Greek. If we might reasonably look for the im- 
press of nationality upon the writings composed 
in it, equally might be anticipated an influence 
from the world of new conceptions and revela- 
tions with which these words abound. As one 
has said, '' The new life of Christianity has 
formed for itself a language, to give adequate 
expression to the thoughts and aspirations it has 
awakened." There is a pleasing analogy between 
the effect of this fresh, divine energy infused 
into man through the grace of Christ, seizing, 
animating, and amplifying the same faculties be- 
fore possessed, and the new and extended import 
of many long estabhshed Greek Vv^ords in their 
Christian sense. With a general meaning, obvi- 
ous from their ordinary employment, the connec- 
tion in which they came to be used, inevitably 
gave them a fuller, sometimes a unique meaning. 
Like the emblems and shadows of the old dispen- 
sation, the force and beauty of which could only 
be fully realized in the consummation of that 
wdiich they prefigured, so Avords were informed 
with a new significance in the light of the great 
subjects on which they were employed by the 
(jticred writers/ 



CLASSIC USAGE. 167 

" It is then more for a philological than for a 
doctrinal purpose that we go to classic authors 
to inquire for their use of the word baptizo. We 
feel very little concern as to the verdict they 
shall render. Perhaps, considering the utter 
strangeness of the thing meant from any thing 
embraced within their knowledge or conceptions, 
we ought to expect but very little agreement 
between their use of it and that of the New 
Testament. But whether much or little, it will 
in no degree affect the conclusions we have come 
to from the Scriptures themselves. 'To the law 
and to the testimony ; if they speak not according 
to this word it is because there is no light in 
them.'" Isa. 8: 20. 

''I am afraid, Nellie," said Mrs. Mason, ''that 
we women shall not be much edified by this part 
of the discussion." 

"No," said NeUie, "it will doubtless be all 
Greek to us ; however, I shall be much interest- 
ed to hear it, and I hope we can gain at least 
something from it." 

" We will do our best to make the matter 
intelligible even to those who do not understand 
the Greek themselves," said Mr. Stanley. " The 
points involved are not very obscure, and here 



168 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

as well as throughout our discussion, I wish to 
rely upon the common sense of candid people, 
rather than the profoundest learning where there 
is prejudice." 

*•' That is a compliment to us," cried Mary, "• in 
return for which we must be very good and 
attentive." 

''There are two Greek words," said Mr. S., 
'' whose meaning is discussed in this connection, 
BAPTO and BAPTizo. Only the latter, however, 
and its derivatives, are used in reference to the 
Christian ordinance. Bapto is the primitive or 
root-word, and baptizo is derived from it. 

" Here, in the first place, is a concise summary 
of the definitions of these words, as given by a 
large number of the standard Greek Lexicogra- 
phers. I have copied them mostly from Dr. 
Rice, as adduced in his great debate with Rev. 
Alexander Campbell. 

BAPTO. 

'' Hedericu3 defines bapto thus : — ' Mergo, 
immergo ; 2, tingo, intingo ; 3, lavo,' i. e, to im- 
merse, to plunge, to dye, to wash. 

Scapula,-— 'Mergo, immergo ^ — item tingo — in- 
ficere, imbuere — item lavp ' ; i. e. to merge, 



CLASSIC USAGE. 169 

immerse ; also to plunge ; also to stain, dye, 
color ; also to wash. 

Coulon, — ' Mergo, tingo, abluo ' ; i. e. to im- 
merse, to dye, to cleanse. 

Ursinus, — ' To dip, to dye, to sprinkle, to 
wash.' 

Schrevelius, — ' Mergo, intingo, lavo, haurio \ 
i, e, to dip, to dye, to wash, to draw water. 

Groves, — ' To dip, plunge, immerse, to wash, 
to wet, moisten, sprinkle, to steep, imbue, to 
dye, &c.' 

Donnegan, — ' To dip, to plunge into water, to 
submerge, to Avash, to dye, to color.' 

Robinson, — ' To dip in, to immerse, to tinge, 
to dye.' 

BAPTIZO. 

'^ Scapula defines it thus: — 'Mergo, sen im- 
mergo ; item tingo ; ut quae tingendi aut ablu- 
endi gratia aqua immergimus — item mergo, sub- 
merge, obruo aqua; item abluo, lavo,' (Mark 7; 
Luke 11), i, e. to dip or immerse ; also to dye, as 
we immerse things for the purpose of coloring 
or washing them ; also to plunge, submerge, to 
cover with water ; also to cleanse, to wash. 
(Mark 7, Luke 11). Baptismos he thus defines : 
' Mersio, lotio, ablutio, ipse immergendi, item la- 



170 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

vandi seu abluendi actus,' (Mark vii, &c.) ^. e. 
iinmersion, washing, cleansing, the act itself of 
immersing ; also of washing or cleansing. (Mark 
7. &c.) 

Hedericus, — ' Mergo, immergo, aqua obruo. 
2. abluo lavo. 3. baptizo, significatu sacro ' — 
L e. to dip, to immerse, to cover with water. 
2. to cleanse, to wash. 3. to baptize, in a sa- 
cred sense. 

Stephanus, — ' Mergo, seu immergo, ut quae tin- 
gendi aut abluendi gratia aqua immergimus — 
mergo, submergo, obruo aqua, abluo, lavo,' ^. e. 
to dip, to immerse, as we immerse things for the 
purpose of coloring or washing ; to merge, sub- 
merge, to cover with water; to cleanse, to wash. 

Schleusner, — Not only to plunge, immerse, 
but ' to cleanse, wash, purify with water.' 

Parkhurst, — ' To immerse in, or wash with, 
water in token of purification.' 

Schrevelius, — 'Mergo, obluo, lavo' — L e. to im- 
merse, to cleanse, to wash. 

Groves, — ' To dip, to immerse, to immerge, to 
plunge, to wash, to cleanse, to purify — Bapti- 
zomai^ to wash one's self, to bathe, &c.' 

Bretschneider, — ' Proprie sepius intingo, sepius 
lavo ; deinde lavo, abluo simpliciter — medium 



CLASSIC USAGE. 171 

&c. ; lavo me, abluo me ', /. e. properly often to 
dip, often to wash; then simply to wash, to 
cleanse ; in the middle voice, I wash or cleanse 
myself. 

Suidas, — Not only to sink, to plunge, to im- 
merse, but to wet, to wash, to cleanse, to purify ; 
(madefacio, lavo, abluo, purgo, mundo.) 

Wahl, — ' To wash, to perform ablution, to 
cleanse ; 2. to immerse ', &c. 

Passow, — 'Abluo and lavo,' /. e, to wash, to 
bathe. 

S told us, — ' To immerse, to wash.' 

Robinson, — ' To immerse, to sink ; to wash, to 
cleanse by washing ; to baptize, to administer the 
rite of baptism.' 

" Let it be borne in mind, as you examine this 
list, that the question is whether immerse is the 
exclusive meaning of these words. Baptists often 
quote authorities to show that it is one of their 
meaniags, but this no one denies. Is it their sole 
meaning, as Carson, Conant, and others so posi- 
tively affirm ? " 

•* Plainly that is not the case," said Joseph. 
'* But, after all, the definitions lexicographers 
give are only their opinions as to the meaning of 



172 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

the words, derived from their study of the au- 
thors who used them. The only certain way of 
determining them is to go to those authors for 
ourselves." 

" Well, I think you are right in that : so I pro- 
pose, next, to do that* very thing. Let us then 
.ask the classic writers themselves what they 
meant. 

''The original and primary meaning of bapto is 
doubtless to dip. As to this fact, there is no dis- 
pute, and no need of quoting any authority to 
prove it. 

''Besides this primary meaning, bapto has 
secondary ones denoting the effects of dipping, 
and these vary according to the nature of those 
effects. One of these is to color or dye^ and that 
too, whether it be done by dipping, pouring, or 
even sprinkling. Thus ^schylus says, ' This 
garment stained by the sword of ^gisthus is a 
witness to me.' Homer, in his mock-heroic 
poem of the battle of the frogs and the mice, 
says, 'He fell and breathed no more, and the 
lake was tinged — ehapteto — with the purple 
blood.' Aristophanes speaks of a person who 
had stained — haptomenos — his face with tawny 
washes. Hippocrates says of a certain liquid. 



CLASSIC USAGE. 173 

' When it drops upon the garments they are 
stained,' baptdai. To this meaning of the word, 
doubtless, is to-be referred the use of it in Rev. 
19 : 13, ' He was clothed with a vesture dipped 
in blood,' i, e. stained by the blood spirting from 
the wounds of his enemies. This figure we find 
in Isaiah 63 : 3, where in the same character the 
Messiah says, ' Their blood shall be sprinkled on 
my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.' 

"Another secondary sense is to smear, or 
spread over. Thus Sophocles says ' Thou hast 
well smeared — ehapsus — thy sword with the 
Grecian army,' ^. e. with the blood of the army. 
jEschylus speaks of ' bathing — hapsasa — the 
sword by slaughter,' and Aristophanes, of a per- 
son ' smearing himself — haptomenos — with frog- 
colored paints,' etc. 

" This secondary import of hapto was long denied, 
and it was insisted that the word meant to dip, 
wherever it occurred. Wonders of ingenuity 
were expended in showing how a garment was 
dipped into a sword, how a lake was dipped into 
the blood of a mouse^ a man's face dipped into 
washes, etc. Even poor Nebuchadnezzar, in the 
Septuagint, (Dan. 5: 21), was dipped into the 
dew. But more sensible views have of late pre- 



174 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

vailed, possibly, because it has been remembered 
that this word never denotes baptism, and the 
concession can be safely macl^e. Dr. Carson freely 
admits the secondary meaning of the word, in 
the sense of to dye, and even reproves many of 
his brethren for still denying it. 

" Let it here be* observed that this secondary 
meaning of a word is just as real and literal as 
the primary one. Indeed, there are multitudes 
of instances, in all languages, where it is the 
only existing meaning. The primary meaning 
has fallen into disuse, or perhaps is lost. Thus 
the primary meaning of our English word prevent 
is ' to go before,' and, when our version of the 
Bible was made, that meaning was in use. Thus 
David says, (Ps. 119 : 107) ' I prevented the 
dawning of the morning.' (Ps. 88 : 13.) ' In 
the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.' This 
meaning is now wholly obsolete, and only the 
secondary one, to hinder^ to obstruct^ remains. So 
the word pagan at first meant one who dwelt in a 
village ; heathen^ a heath-dweller ; villain^ a peas- 
ant or farm-laborer; knave^ a boy; martyr^ a wit- 
ness, etc. Dr. Carson himself says, ' Nor are 
such applications of the word to be accounted 
for by metaphor. They are as literal as the 
primary meaning.' p. 46. 



CLASSIC USAGE. 175 

'' Baptizo has also its primary and secondary 
meanings. And as this is the very word used 
by our Lord in appointing his ordinance, and as 
the question before us is as to its precise mean- 
ing, it is necessary here to be somewhat careful 
in our discriminations. 

" A very important distinction in this dis- 
cussion is that between what are called general 
and speciiic words. A general word denotes an act, 
but does not tell how that act is done ; a specific 
word does both. Thus 'I traveled to Boston,' 
may mean that I ivalked^ or rode on horsehacJc^ or 
rode m the cars^ or sailed. The former is a gen- 
eral term ; each of the latter a specific one. The 
latter are often called also modal words, because 
in themselves indicating the mode of the per- 
formance. 

"Now the question before us is, whether haptizo 
is a modal verb or not. Does it, according to 
the usage of classic writers, not only command an 
act, but also specify the form of the act, so that 
the act itself is not done unless it is done in that 
mode ? Baptists with one voice say, yes. ' My 
position,' says Carson, ' is that it always signifies to 
dip; never expressing anything hut mode.^ (p. 55.) 
This, then, will be the first point to test by ref- 



176 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

erence to the classics in the primary use of the 
word. 

"" 1. Does baptizo always and invariablj' signify 
to dip ? 

" To dip, according to Webster, signifies ' to 
plunge or immerse ; especially to put for a mo- 
ment into an}^ liquid ; to insert in a fluid and 
withdraw again.' This definition includes three 
things, viz., to put in; to leave in only a sJiort 
time ; and to take out. The lack of either of 
these destroys the idea of dipping. 

'^ First, the thing dipped must be put in. 
Whatever is in a fluid, as its natural element, is 
not dipped. Fishes which swim in the water, 
and seaweed which grows on the bottom, are not 
there by dipping. Second, the time of being in 
must be short. A boatman dips his oar, but not 
his anchor. ' To put for a moment into,' says 
Webster. Third, it must be taken out. If it 
permanently remain, some other term must be 
used. A ship lost at sea, is not dipped, neither 
is the Atlantic Cable. These three elements 
must all enter into the idea of dipping. Thus, 
we dip a glass of water, we dip our finger in a 
bowl, we make candles by dipping, etc." 

'' This shows then," said Mrs. Mason, '' that 



CLASSIC USAGE. 177 

our baptism is truly and properly a dipping. 
The person is put into the water for a moment, 
and is then lifted out. Why is not that the exact 
thing to be done according to your own show- 
ing?" 

'' It is certainly an exact dipping ^^^ replied Mr, 
Stanley, '' but for that very reason it is not 
baptizing^ in the classic meaning of the Greek 
word. It corresponds well enough to the word 
bapto^ but not to the word baptizo. Innumerable 
instances of the use of the latter word occur, in 
which one or more of the said elementary ideas 
are wanting, and some in which they are all 
wanting. Many things in Greek are said to be 
baptized which are not put in at all, many which 
are not taken out at all, and many which remain 
in for a long time^ 

''You will much oblige me, uncle," said Joseph, 
" if you will give me some examples confirming 
these extraordinary statements." 

'' I will do so, with pleasure. First of baptisms 
where there is no putting in at all. Aristotle^ 
describes a country beyond the Pillars of Her- 



1 This and many of the subsequent illustrations are from Dale's " Clas- 
sic Baptism," one of the ablest and most original works on the mode of 
baptism ever published. 



178 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

cules, having shores ' full of rushes and seaweed, 
which, when it is ebb tide, are not baptized^ but 
when it is full tide are flooded.' Diodorus Sic- 
ulus, describing the annual inundation of the 
Nile, says, ' Many of the land animals being sur- 
rounded, perish, being baptized ; but some fleeing 
to higher places are saved.' In neither of these 
cases is there any dipping at all. The sea coast 
is not put into the water, but the tide rolls in 
and overflows it. The animals are not plunged 
into the Nile, but the water rises over them, till 
they are suffocated. 

" Next of baptisms when there is no taking out. 
The instance last cited is an example. When 
the Nile baptized the cattle by overflowing them, 
it neither put them in nor took them out ; they 
were left in the water. Dion Cassius says, ' The 
vessels which were in the Tiber — were baptized^ 
— i. e, sunk. Indeed this is a very common expres- 
sion applied to vessels that are foundered, and lost 
beneath the waters. No restoration of them is 
implied. 

'' And the same example illustrates the third 
class of baptisms, where the continuance in that 
state is not brief. A sunken ship ordinarily re- 
mains such. Plutarch speaks of arrows, helmets 



CLASSIC USAGE. 179 

and pieces of iron breast-plates and swords, 
relics of an ancient battle, found haptized in the 
marshes. They had been there too long to be 
call dipped. 

" So then the word baptizo^ even in its primary, 
literal meaning, does nJt necessarily imply a sin- 
gle one of the ideas entering into the word dip. 
It is doubtful whether in the whole range of 
Greek literature, it ever once expresses the com- 
plex act performed by the Baptists in adminis- 
tering the Christian sacrament. That act is 
properly denoted by bapto^ not baptizo ; and 
should be called a bapting not a baptizing. The 
New Testament knows nothing either of the 
name or the thing." 

''But Dr. Carson insists," said Joseph, ''that 
baptizo has its modal meaning in the passages 
you have cited." 

"I am aware he does, but with a degree of 
hardihood which can never be sufficiently ad- 
mired. The ' modal meaning,' you remember, is 
to dip, ' It always signifies to dip.' Of course, 
it must here be ' a figure.' No matter what the 
act spoken of is, it is always a ' figure of dip- 
ping.' Washing of table-couches was a dipping, 
Christ's agony on the cross was a dipping, now 



180 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

the overflowing of the tide is a dipping. I pre- 
sume it would be impossible to name an act, not 
even to sprinkle itself, (since poor Nebuchadnez- 
zar, he says, was dipped in the night-dews) 
which, if his theory required it, would not be a 
dipping. Observe now, this is not argument; 
it is simple assertion^ and one that insults the 
common-sense of his readers. Of course, no 
reasoning can refute it. The only answer it de- 
serves is to leave it unanswered to the con- 
sciences of those who, on such grounds, are in- 
vited to excommunicate all undipped persons 
from their fellowship. 

''- 2. Does baptizo, as its modal meaning, sig- 
nify to plunge. The question is speedily an- 
swered. The word plunge, like dip, denotes the 
act of putting into^ with the additional idea of 
force or swiftness. It differs from dip, in that it 
does not imply taking out of, I plunge into a 
stream ; I plunge a sword into an enemy, etc. 
But the instances cited, show that baptizo does 
not mean that. The shore was not plunged into 
the rising tide ; the . land animals were not 
plunged into the inundation, etc. Certainly, the 
modal meaning is not to be found in this word." 

'' I have observed, father," said Mary, '' that 



CLASSIC USAGE, 181 

you have not mentioned the word immerse in this 
connection at all. I think Baptists are now most 
accustomed to use that word, are they not ? " 

'' It is the one," said Arthur, " that they have 
chosen for translating baptizo in their new version 
of the Bible." 

" Yes," said Mr. S., ''but the remarkable thing 
about it is that this is no modal ivord at all^ any 
more than the word travel ! A man may travel 
in half-a-dozen different ways, and a thing maj^ 
be immersed in as many. 1. It may be put into 
water. 2. Water may flow over it, as the incom- 
ing tide covers the shore. 3. Water may be 
poured upon it till it is covered. 4. It may be 
wrapped about till completely invested. I>r. 
Kane spoke of himself and his men, as immersed 
in their fur garments. 5. It may be inclosed 
without any act whatever, as an oj'ster growing 
on a rock under a water is immersed. 6. It may 
be inclosed by the withdrawal of something else, 
as, when a light is extinguished, a person is im- 
mersed in darkness. Here, then, is a single 
condition, — that of being ivitMn some enveloping 
element^ but it is caused in six different modes, 
and perhaps as many more might be conceived of. 
Now, which of all these is the one modal act of 



182 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

immersion, that which signifies ' mode and noth- 
ing else ' ?" 

''But, Mr. Stanley," asked Nellie, ''do you 
mean to say that haptho^ m classic usage, is ap- 
plicable to as many different acts as that ? For, 
if you do, it settles the whole question." 

" I do mean to say it may be applied to as 
many different acts as that, and more, to cause 
the condition referred to, as witness the follow- 
ing examples. 

"1. To put within. 'I baptized him — ^. ^., 
Cupid, — into the wine.' Julian. 

"2. To overfloiv. ' Sea coasts which at ebb 
tide are not baptized.^ Aristotle. ' Many of the 
lalid animals surrounded by the river perish, be- 
ing baptized,^ Diodorus Siculus. 

" 3. To carry down^ as a swollen river bears 
away in its current. ' The stream carrying 
down many, baptized them.' lb. 

" 4. To dash over^ as by the crest of a wave. 
' I am one of those baptized by that great wave '. 
Libanius. 

" 5. To wade in. ' The army marched all 
day, baptized up to the waist.' Strabo. ' They 
marched through with difficulty, the infantry 
being bap)tized up to their breasts.' Polybius. 



CLASSIC USAGE. 183 

" 6. To sinh hy its own weigJit. ' They per- 
ished, some in embarking upon the boats thrown 
down by the press, others even in the boats, 
baptized by their own weight.' Dion Cassius. 
' They were baptized by their full armor.' 
Suidas. 

" 7. To divell in^ as the soul in the body. 
' They harve the soul very much baptized by the 
body.' Achilles Tatius. ' They have their na- 
ture and perceptive power baptized in the depth 
of the body '. Aphrodisias. 

••' 8. To be in by the witlidraiual of a sur- 
rounding element. ' I saw a vessel baptized in a 
calm.' Char. Aph. In this case, the winds be- 
ing withdrawn, the vessel was left in a condition 
of repose. 

" Glance now through these examples, and you 
will see that while they all represent the object 
as being in an enveloped condition — a state of 
inness^ if I may so say — the acts by which this is 
caused are exceedingly varied. Notice, espe- 
cially, that in none of them was the act a dip- 
ping. In the first instance Love (Cupid) was 
not put in and taken out again, but left in and 
drank in the wine. In none of them could the 
word baptism be translated by dip. In all of 



184 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

them it may be translated by immerse ; showing 
that dip is a modal verb and immerse is not. 
What is plainer then, than that baptizo instead of 
being always a modal word, ' signifying nothing 
but mode,' is never one ; and so that the very 
foundation of the Baptist assumption, tested even 
by the classics themselves, is unsound ? " 

''But, uncle," said Joseph, " this, surely, is an 
excess of refinement. You are making distinc- 
tions which are of no practical importance. The 
essential fact remains, in every case you have 
cited, that baptizo causes its object to be wholly in 
or under the element used. This is enough for us. 
If this state or condition is attained, the precise 
mode in which it is done is of no importance." 

" What ! The mode of no importance. Is it 
possible that I hear a Baptist saying that ? Is 
not this whole dispute about the mode of bap- 
tism ? Have we not been told ten thousand 
times that laptizo is a specific or modal word, 
that, ' when first applied to this ordinance,' as 
Carson says, ' it not only contained a specific 
mode, but it expressed nothing but a specific 
mode. Mode was its very essence ' ? (p. 243.) 
And when I ask you, out of the examples I have 
adduced, to state which of these acts is the 



CLASSIC USAGE. 185 

modal one, do you tell me it is to immerse, which 
is not modal at all, and then finally conclude that 
the mode is of no importance ? " 

'' But you evade the essential thing, viz., the 
condition of inness^ as you call it. To be baptized, 
a person must have been caused to be wholly in 
or under the water. This is the thing for which 
we contend, whatever be the act which causes 
it." 

'' Well, then, let us look after that," said Mr. 
S. '' Hitherto we have been examining only the 
primary meaning of the word, in which it is con- 
ceded that this condition of inness is an essential 
idea. But when we pass from this to its second- 
ary meanings, even this totally disappears. Ob- 
jects immersed are for the most part affected by 
the element surrounding them, and thereby come 
into a new state or condition. Thus a man 
placed under water is distressed by suffocation ; 
he is benumbed by it ; he is stupified ; he is be- 
wildered ; he is made unconscious ; he is droivned. 
Often things are more favorably affected ; they 
may be softened^ and warmed^ and exhilarated^ and 
vivified^ and cleansed. Next, by a process custom- 
ary in all languages and with almost all words, 
the force of the word, passing by the immediate 



186 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

and causal act, rests on the effect alone, irrespec- 
tive of the mode in which it is caused. Instead 
of being stupefied, for example, by submersion 
under water, it denotes being stupefied in any 
way, where there is no immersion at all, and 
where even no fluid of any sort is used, as by 
swallowing a poisonous drug. In fact, any thing 
liquid or solid, material or immaterial, which is 
able powerfully to affect a person, is capable of 
baptizing him in the Greek sense of the word. 
This will be illustrated by the following ex- 
amples. 

" Baptism with a drug, ' Satyrus had some- 
what left of the drug by which he had put 
Conops to sleep. Of this, while serving us, he 
pours secretly into the last cup which he brought 
to Panthia. She, rising, went into her chamber 
and immediately slept. But Leucippe had another 
servant whom, having baptized with the same 
drug,' etc. Achilles Tatius. Here it is said that 
Satyrus baptized a person witli an opiate drug ; z. e, 
put him into a state of insensibility. Plainly the 
intent was to denote the effect simply, without 
describing the physical form of the act. Or if one 
persists in demanding that form, we find it not 
in dipping the person into the opiate, but in 
causing him to swallow it. 



CLASSIC USAGE. 187 

'' Baptism hy toine. ' Thebe exhorted to the 
murder ; and having with much wine baptized 
Alexander and put him to sleep,' etc., — Conon. 
The form of this baptism was pouring the wine 
aito him, not plunging him into it. This was a 
vrery common use of the word among the Greeks. 
* You seem to be baptized with unmixed ' — i. e, 
strong — 'wine.' Athenaeus. 'Then powerfully 
baptizing, he set me free.' lb. ' I myself am of 
these who yesterday were baptized,' ^. e, intoxi- 
cated. Plato. ' The nobleman being sober and pre- 
pared, set upon us drunken and baptized,' Plutarch. 
' Of those slightly intoxicated, only the intellect 
is disturbed, but the body is still able to obey its 
impulses, being not yet baptized.' 'lb. 

" Baptism ivith taxes. ' On account of the 
abundant revenue from these sources, they 
do not baptize the people with taxes.' Bio. Si- 
cuius. The word denotes the effect^ viz., to op- 
press. There is no allusion here to any form of 
the act by which they are put into taxes. The 
ideas of dipping, plunging, immersing are not 
only wholly wanting, but they cannot be forced 
upon the sentence without the utmost incon- 
rruity. 

'' Baptism with diseases., etc. ' But when he 



188 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

does not so continue, being baptized with diseases 
and the arts of wizards.' Plotinus, Here is a 
man overcome by disease and the magic in- 
cantations of sorcery. Is he immersed within 
them ? 

" Baptism with grief. ' Grief for him baptizing 
the soul, and darkening the understanding, brings 
a certain mistiness over the eyes.' Lihanius. 
' Let us not be co-baptized by this grief of his, 
nor be unobservantl}^ carried away by his tears.' 
Heliodorus. 

^^ Baptism hy misfortunes. ' Misfortunes faUing 
upon, baptize us.' Achilles. The effect is to 
distress us ; the form of the act is to fall upon, 
as a tempest or shower. If we must make bap- 
tizo a modal word, it is here certainly a sprink- 
ling or pouring. 

^'Baptism hy questions. ' I, knowing that the 
youth was baptized, wished to relieve him.' 
Plato. The young man was embarrassed or 
confused by the sophistical questions put to him. 

'' Baptism hy excessive labors. ' As plants are 
nourished by water in measure, but are choked 
by excess, after the same manner the soul grows 
by labors, in measure, but is baptized by excess.' 
Plutarch. How idle is it to inquire for the form 



. CLASSIC USAGE. 189 

of the act here. If we must^ we shall find it not 
in the figure of an immersion but of excessive 
rains that drown the vitality of tender plants. 

'' Baptism with sleep, ' Midnight was baptizing 
the city with sleep.' Heliod, Baptists translate 
this, 'had plunged the city in sleep,' but this is 
to violate one of the simplest rules of Greek syn- 
tax. 

" Various other baptisms. 

'' ' What is sudden and unexpected astounds 
the soul — and baptizes it.' 

" ' To be baptized with such a multitude of 
evils.' 

" ' Since circumstances baptized you.' 

'' ' Having found the unhappy Cimon baptized 
and forsaken.' 

" ' Baptized with debts of fifty milUons.' 

" Such was the mode in which classic Greek 
authors were accustomed to use this disputed 
word. The question before . us now is, whether 
they gave to it as to its mother-word, hapto^ a sec- 
ondary, as well as primary, signification ; that is, 
one; in which, losing sight of the form of the act, 
it expressed simply the effect. I do not see how 
any candid mind, looking at the examples now 
adduced, can doubt on that point. When a drug 



190 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

baptizes a person, it is not because he is in it, 
overwhelmed by it, or submerged under it. He 
is not put into it, nor taken out of it ; the condi- 
tion or relation of inness is no part of the concep- 
tion we form of it. 

" And if the Greeks, within the carefully reg- 
ulated limits of their own usage, could thus em- 
ploy the word to denote effect alone, without ref- 
erence to mode, then might the Avriters and 
speakers of the New Testament do the same. 
They needed to speak of an effect, the greatest, 
the most momentous, known to man, — the moral 
renovation of a sinful soul b)^ the Spirit of God. 
It was not such an effect as the heathen Greeks 
had ever heard of, or had had occasion to express 
by any word in their tongue. But they had em- 
ployed a certain word in a similar way, to denote, 
in general, a controlling influence; and this would 
amply justify its use, for want of a better, to des- 
ignate that great spiritual renovation. There- 
fore, the sacred writers called both it, and the 
outward rite that symbolized it, a baptism. 
Nor, in so doing, is there any conceivable reason 
why the word should be any more confined, or 
tied down by modal forms, than when used by 
Plato, or Plutarch, or Heliodorus, to describe the 



CLASSIC USAGE. 191 

effects of wine, or grief, or oppressive taxes, or 
any one of the numerous things that exert a con- 
trolling influence over men.'' 

'' The examples you have now given," said 
Mary, ''are derived wholly, I think from pagan 
Greek authors. Are there none to be adduced 
from Christians ? I don't see why the conversion 
of a man to Christianity should destroy his abil- 
ity to speak and write the language with as much 
purity as before, or as any of the heathen ? " 

''Very true," said her father. "The custom 
has been to cite heathen writers only as authori- 
ties on this subject. There is no reason, how- 
ever, why the inquiry should be thus limited. 
The early Fathers of the church were, for the 
most part, converts from heathenism, and, of 
course, had received their language and early 
training from pagan sources. If their subsequent 
writings cannot strictly be called classic, in the 
technical sense of that term, they may still be as 
good evidence as to the import of these disputed 
Greek words, as any others of their times. And, 
for the sake of completeness, I will cite with 
these some of the early Latin writers." 

"Not, however, as specimens of classic Greek 
usage, I trust," said Joseph. 



192 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" No ; yet certainly, the practice of learned 
Latin writers in the classic period, cannot be 
without weight on the subject. The two lan- 
guages were closely affiliated, and scholars of 
that age spoke and wrote both, with almost equal 
ease." 

" Well, I do not object to any light which can 
possibly be derived from this or any other 
source." 

"- We have then, first," said Mr. Stanley, " that 
most able philosopher and scholar of his day, 
Origen of Alexandria, born A. D. 185. Speaking 
of Elijah's sacrifice on Mt. Carmel, (1 Kings 18: 
32-38), he says, ' Elijah did not baptize the 
wood of the altar — taxylabaptizontos — but com- 
manded the priests to do it.' Similarly, also, 
Basil the Great, archbishop of Csesarea, says, 
' Elijah showed the power of baptism upon the 
altar of burnt offerings, burning the sacrifice not 
with fire, but with water.' Now, Arthur, will 
you turn to the passage in -Kings, and read it, 
that we may see what constituted a baptism in 
the estimation of these eminent Greek Fathers ? " 

Arthur read : '' ^ And he put the wood in order, 
and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on 
the wood, • and said. Fill four barrels, (Heb, 



CLASSIC USAGE. 193 

buckets), with water and pour it on the burnt 
sacrifice and on the wood. And he said, Do it 
the second time, and they did it the second time. 
And he said. Do it the third time, and they did it 
the third time. And the water ran round about 
the altar, and he filled the trench also with wa- 
ter.' " 

'' Does Dr. Carson explain this application of 
the word by Origen," asked Mary. 

'' Oh, yes ; he says ' Every child knows that 
our word immerse may be used in the same way.' 
And that is all ! 

'^ Ambrose, bishop of Milan in the fourth cen- 
tury, a Latin Father, calls the same transaction, 
a type of baptism ; — typum baptismatis, 

" Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem in the same cen- 
tury, calls the Krazen laver of the tabernacle, a 
'symbol of baptism,' — sumbolon tou haptismatos. 
This is expressly said to have been made for 
'Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and feet 
thereat.' Ex. 30: 19. 

'' Clement of Alexandria, one of the most dis- 
tinguished Greek Fathers, says, — evidently in 
allusion to Mark 7 : 4. — ' This is a custom of 
the Jews, to be baptized often upon a couch — 
ep't koite baptizesthai. ' Well, therefore, it is said, 
Be pure, not by washing, but by thought.' 



194 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" Very often do the Fathers, both Greek and 
Latin, call sprinkling and pouring a baptism. 
Referring to Ps. 51 : 7, Ambrose says, ' He who 
desired to be cleansed by a typical baptism — 
typico haptismate — was sprinkled — aspergebatur 
— with the blood of a lamb, by a bunch of hys- 
sop.' Again, ' No one can be cleansed from the 
leprosy of sin by the water of baptism, but un- 
der the invocation of the Father, and the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost.' 

"• Gregory Nazianzen, Patriarch of Constanti- 
nople in the fourth century, exhorts, ' Let us be 
baptized that we may overcome ; let us partake 
of the purifying waters more powerful than hys- 
sop, more cleansing than the legal blood, more 
holy than the ashes of the heifer sprinkling the 
unclean,' etc. ' 

" Jerome, the author of the Latin Vulgate, 
commenting on Ezek. 36 : 25, paraphrases the 
words of the prophet thus, ' Upon the believing, 
and those converted from error, I will pour out 
the clean water of saving baptism.' — effunderem 
aquam mundam haptismi salutaris. 

'' Didymus of Alexandria, in the fourth cen- 
tury, writes, ' The very image of baptism both 
continually illuminated and saved Israel at that 



CLASSIC USAGE. 195 

time, as Paul wrote, (1 Cor. 10: 1), and as 
Ezekiel prophesied, (36: 25), ''I will sprinkle 
clean water upon you." And David, '' Sprinkle 
me with hyssop." 

'^ Cyril of Jerusalem, — ' Thou seest the power 
of baptism. — Be of good courage, O Jerusalem, 

— He will sprinkle clean water upon you,' etc. 

" Frequently, baptism is employed in the gen- 
eral sense of purification, and without the use of 
any liquid whatever. Thus, Justin Martyr, born 
in A. D. 114, calls circumcision itself a baptism. 
" What is the message of circumcision to me who 
have received testimony from God ? What need 
is there of that baptism — ekeinou tou baptismatos 

— to one baptized by the Holy Ghost ? ' Cyril 
says, ' Being circumcised, through washing by 
the Holy Spirit. By the circumcision of Christ, 
being buried with him by baptism.' 

'' Ambrose says there are three baptisms, one 
by water and the Spirit, one, the baptism of 
Christ's death, and a third by the flaming sword 
at the gate of paradise. ' There is also a baptism 
at the entrance of paradise which once did not 
exist, but after the transgressor was excluded, 
the flaming sword began to be. Sin began, and 
baptism began, by which they might be purified 



196 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

who desired to return, that, having returned, 
they might say,- " We have passed over by fire 
and water.'" Ps. 66: 12. 

''This sword, which seems to be affliction or 
sorrow, Ambrose represents as wielded by Christ 
himself, in consequence of which, he is named 
the ' Great Baptizer.' ' Who is it that baptizes 
by this fire ? He of whom John says. He shall 
baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. There- 
fore, the Great Baptizer will come (for so I name 
him, as Gabriel did, saying, '' He shall be great ; " 
Luke 1: 32), he will see many standing before 
the entrance to paradise. He will wave the 
sword turning every way. He will say to those 
on the right hand, not having weighty sins, " En- 
ter ye who are courageous, who fear not the fire,"' 
etc. Thus, according to this Father, sorrow is a 
baptism designed to cleanse from sin, adminis- 
tered by Christ, who is, therefore, called the 
Great Baptizer, not by dipping, but by waving 
the sword. 

'' Origen, in like manner, says, ' The Saviour 
brings both sword and fire, and baptizes those 
things which could not be purged by the purifica- 
tion of the Holy Spirit.' We have now nothing 
to do with the sentiments or reasoning of these 



CLASSIC USAGE. 197 

Fathers, but, simply, with their use of the words 
baptize and baptism. 

'' In this sense, that suffering was a means of 
purification, the Fathers were wont to call mar- 
tyrdom a baptism. Thus Eusebius, the learned 
Greek historian of the church, who lived in the 
third century, says, ' Herais, yet a catechumen, 
received that baptism which is by fire, and de- 
parted out of this life.' 

" Martyrdom was also called a baptism by 
blood. Thus Origen, ' That we may leave this 
world, washed by our own blood. For the bap- 
tism of blood only can render us purer than the 
baptism of water. If God would grant to me 
that I might be cleansed by my own blood, that 
I might attain that second baptism, dying for 
Christ, I would depart out of this world secure.' 

" In the same sense, Clement of Alexandria, 
jcalls martyrdom a baptism by tears. ' Baptized a 
second time by tears.' 

" In the same line of thought, the sufferings 
md death of Christ are represented as a baptism 
that cleanses sinners. So Ambrose : ' There is 
ilso another baptism, of which the Lord J'esus 
Bays, " I have a baptism to be baptized with, 
Iwhich ye know not." (Luke 12 : 10.) And as 



198 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

he had been already baptized in Jordan, this 
must be the baptism of passion, by which, 
through his blood, every one of us must be 
cleansed.' Also Theophylact : ' He calls his 
death a baptism, as being a purging of us all.' 
And Tertullian, ' These two baptisms [water and 
blood] he shed forth from the wound of his 
pierced side.' And Cyprian, ' The Lord declares 
in the gospel that those baptized by his blood 
and passion are sanctified and attain the grace of 
the divine promise.' 

" Confession of sin, as a means of obtaining 
pardon and moral cleansing, was styled a baptism. 
Thus Cyprian, in connection with the passage 
just quoted, refers to the confession of the pen- 
itent thief on the cross, as this ' baptism of a 
public confession and of blood,' which is able to 
avail for salvation. 

"I will cite but two examples more, out of 
scores that might be given, of the use of baptism 
by the Fathers, where the idea of immersion is 
impossible. Origen repeatedly styles the passage 
of the river Jordan by the Israelites, on their 
entry into the promised land, a baptism unto 
Joshua, as the passage of the Red Sea was a bap- 
tism unto Moses. ' Paul might say respecting 



CLASSIC USAGE. 199 

this, '' I would not have you ignorant, brethren, 
that all our fathers passed over through the Jor- 
dan, and were all baptized unto Joshua with the 
Spirit and the river." But Joshua, who suc- 
ceeded Moses, was a type of Jesus Christ, who 
succeeded the economy of the law by the preach- 
ing of the Gospel. Wherefore, though they all 
were baptized unto Moses by the cloud and the 
sea, their baptism had something bitter and un- 
pleasant, because still fearing their enemies. — 
But the baptism unto Joshua by a truly sweet 
and potable river has many choice things beyond 
that. — The Lord said to Joshua, " This day will 
I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, 
that they may know that as I was with Moses, so 
I will be with thee. Come hither, and hear the 
word of the Lord our God ; by this ye shall 
know that the living God is among you." For, by 
the baptism into Joshua, we know that the living 
God is among us. And the Lord acknowledges 
the reproach of Egypt to be taken away in the 
day of the baptism into Joshua, when Joshua 
thoroughly purified the children of Israel.' Now 
the record of the passage itself will show that 
there was no possible immersion in this case. 
Will one of you read it in Josh. 3 ; 16, 17 ? 



200 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Mary read : " ' The waters which came down 
from above stood and rose up upon a heap very- 
far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan, 
and those that came down toward the sea of 
the plain, even the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut 
off; and the people passed over right against 
Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of 
the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry 
ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israel- 
ites passed over on dry ground until all the peo- 
ple were passed clean over Jordan. ' " 

'' Plainly," said Nellie, ''there could have been 
no immersion here ; what then do you think was 
Origen's idea^in this use of the word baptism ? " 

" Simply that of purification, as his own lan- 
guage intimates. Now only at their actual en- 
trance into Canaan is the promise of God to their 
fathers fulfilled. The reproach of Egypt — their 
bondage and pollution in a foreign land — is 
taken away. The miraculous passage of the 
river is both their purification and a sacrament 
of obedience to Joshua as their leader under 
Jehovah. The baptism was a purely ideal one, in 
which the mind of the writer rests wholly upon 
the spiritual significance of the event, and not 
upon the form. 



CLASSIC USAGE. 201 

"The other histance is from the writings of 
the same author, in which he represents the 
miraculous dividing of the waters of the Jordan, 
by the prophet Ehjah, and his passing over on 
dry ground, a baptism. ' Elias, when about to 
be received up into heaven, having taken his 
mantle and wrapped it together, smote the 
water which divided hither and thither ; and 
they both -passed through, to wit, he and Elisha ; 
for he is .more fitted to be taken up having bap- 
tized himself by the Jordan,' etc. Origen's idea 
in this case seems to have been much the same as 
in the preceding, that this ' dry baptism ' was a 
special purification which fitted the soul of the 
prophet for heaven. 

" On this subject Bingham remarks, ' From the 
ceremonies used in the act of administration it 
took the peculiar names of baptism^ tinction^ and 
laver of regeneration, which properly denote 
either an immersion in water, or such a wptshing 
or sprinkling as was used among the Jews in 
some cases, and among Christians when they had 
occasion to baptize sick persons upon a death- 
bed. For then baptism was administered by 
sprinkling only, and not by dipping or immer- 
sion. So that it must be noted that baptism in 



202 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

the ancient style of the church, does not abso- 
lutely and necessarily import dipping or immersion^ 
though that was the more usual ceremony, prac- 
ticed heretofore as well upon infants as adult 
persons,' etc. Antiquities, vol. 1. p. 477. 

'' I am now ready," said Mr. Stanley, '' to sub- 
mit the question, as cousin Joseph would say, to 
my jury, even though he himself be one of them, 
whether or not baptizo has been proved to have a 
secondary meaning — one or more. In view of 
these examples from Greek authors, pagan and 
Christian, of the classic times, what is to be said 
of the assertions of Dr. Carson that ' baptizo in 
the whole history of the Greek language has 
but one meaning. It not only signifies to dip or 
immerse, hut it never has any other meaning,'' (p. 
19). 'It always signifies to dip, never express- 
ing anything but mode,' " p. 55. 

" I think," replied Joseph, " it must be con- 
ceded that his language is too sweeping. I am 
happy to add that all our writers are not like 
him." 

'' No, certainly not in their rudeness and dog- 
matism, but as a rule they are equally positive in 
their statements. There is no man in the de- 
nomination, perhaps, of greater ability and learn- 



CLASSIC USAGE. 203 

ing, than Prof. T. J. Conant of N. York ; and his 
language is this, ' The word baptizo during the 
whole existence of the Greek as a spoken lan- 
guage had a perfectly defined^ and unvarying im- 
port^' and that, ' nothing more than the act of im- 
mersion.' And generally the reasoning of Bap- 
tists as to the meaning of the word may be 
summed up in three propositions : — 

'' 1. In many instances baptizo clearly and 
plainly has the sense to immerse. 

" 2. In other cases it may hav.e the sense to 
immerse. Therefore 

'^ 3. In all cases it has the sense to immerse. 

'' The main stress of the contest is of course 
on the second of these propositions. Of Dr. 
Carson's great work of five hundred closely 
printed octavo pages, it is safe to say that three 
fourths are taken up in its support. Here is a 
large body of examples from Classic, New Testa- 
ment, and Patristic Greek, where judging from 
the connection, the scope of the thought, the his- 
torical facts involved, and such other things as 
tend to throw light on the authors' intention, the 
meaning was in all probability something else 
than immersion ; nay, many, in which the mean- 
ing demonstrably could not be immersion. Yet 



204 THE MODE OP BAPTISM. 

our friends go through all these with a perse- 
verance worthy of a better cause, to prove that, 
notwithstanding all probabilities, the word may 
have that meaning ; or if not, some other, such 
as to whelm, overwhelm, imbathe, etc., which 
they quietly assume to be its equivalent. Or if 
it cannot mean either, literally, they insist that it 
means it figuratively, finding in the simplest his- 
torical statements the most violent metaphors, 
and when this resource fails, falling back on sheer 
assertion, and declaring that such zs the meaning 
of the word, to be insisted on, as Carson says, 
even if it he imjpo%dhle I So they come to the 
third proposition as an inference — Therefore the 
word in every case has a perfectly defined and 
unvarying import — nothing more than the act 
of immersion. 

'' Then follows the claim that the scholarship 
of the world is with them ; that every one who, 
on philological or Scriptural grounds, ventures to 
dissent from this conclusion, shows by that very 
fact, his ignorance of the subject. You can 
scarcely take up a Baptist book, or review, or 
newspaper, wherein these claims are not made 
and these assertions reiterated. 

'^Now from all this reasoning and assertion, one 



CLASSIC USAGE. 205 

refuge is left us, — an appeal to the facts. Here 
they are, some of them, not all ; and the umpire 
is common sense. We have gone over the Scrip- 
ture examples first, because most nearly associ- 
ated with the sacred rite in question, then over 
the classic and patristic. Remember now that 
the question is, ' Does baptizo always and only 
mean to immerse, so that he who is not immersed 
is not baptized ? ' and in view of the whole let 
common sense, enlightened and unbiased, an- 
swer." 

''There is another topic," said Arthur, ''nearly 
related to this, on which I should be glad to re- 
ceive some information before we close our con- 
versation for the evening. You have shown us 
how the Christian fathers used the word baptizo 
in their writings ; and I should like to know what 
terms were taken as its representative when they 
translated the Scriptures into other languages. 
Christ's command to baptize, for instance, — how 
is it made to read in the early versions of the New 
Testament ?^^ 

" I anticipated this inquirj^," said his father, 
" and came prepared to state the facts pertaining 
to it, so far as they are within my knowledge. 
It is of no little importance in considering the 



206 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

cotemporary understanding of the meaning of 
the baptismal words. For it may be assumed 
that in introducing the Scriptu.res into a foreign 
tongue, the utmost care would be taken to make 
them conformable in every particular to the in- 
spired originals. The words they employed to 
do this, then, would be the judgment of the 
translators as to the exact meaning of the cor- 
responding wordsr in the latter. 

'' Perhaps the earliest version of the New Tes- 
tament was the Syriac, commonly called the Pes- 
chito version, a word signifying ^:»^6r6 or simple. 
An English translation of it by Dr. James Mur- 
dock of New Haven, was published a few years 
ago. ' That version,' says Dr. M., ' was probably 
made in the very next age after the apostles, by 
apostolic men, and in a language almost identical 
with the vernacular tongue of Jesus Christ and 
his disciples. And it may be supposed that the 
apostles themselves, and all the first preachers 
of the gospel among the Syrians adopted this 
phraseology ; and of course that the translators 
of the Peschito had apostolic authority for their 
mode of designating baptism.' Am. Bib. Rep. 
vol. T, p. 788. 

*' Now it is very remarkable that in every place 



CLASSIC USAGE. 207 

in which baptize or its derivatives occur in the 
New Testament, this version employs a word sig- 
nifying to stand. Even John the Baptist is 
called ' He who causeth to stand.' This is not 
because the language is destitute of terms signi- 
fying to immerse, to pour, to sprinkle, or simply 
to wash, for it has them all. The explanation. 
Dr. M. thinks, is that the early Syrian Christians 
' associated with the act of baptism the idea of 
coming to a standi or of taking a public and de- 
cisive stand on the side of Christianity. They 
considered all baptized persons as being estab- 
lished in the Christian faith, and as having made 
a public profession of that faith, in and by their 
baptism, so that now they stood before the world 
as professed or visible Christians.' Accordingly 
he would read the baptismal commission in Syri- 
ac, ' Go ye and teach all nations making them to 
stand faM in the name of the Father,' etc. ; also 
'He that believeth and standeth fast shall be 
saved,' etc. Dr. M. adds, ' So firmly established 
and so universally prevalent, among the Syrian 
Christians, was this custom of denoting baptism 
by to stand and its derivatives, that this usage 
pervaded all their rituals for public worship, and 
all the discourses and writings of the Syriac 



208 . THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Fathers. Nor has the usage ever been changed 
by any Christians using the Syriac language or 
speaking any modern dialect derived from Syriac. 
The recent Nestorian version of the New Testa- 
ment printed at Oroomiah in 1846, every where 
adopts the usage of the Peschito in the transla- 
tion of baptizo and its derivatives, except in two 
instances in which Christian baptism is not in- 
tended ' — (Mark 7 : 4, and Luke 11 : 38), where 
the word ivash is used. ' And the Rev. D. T. 
Stoddard, one of the missionaries at Oroomiah, 
who had a hand in bringing out this version, 
states that among the Nestorian Christians the 
word to standi is the only term ever used to de- 
note baptism, that they so exclusively appropri- 
ate it to this use as never to use it for anything 
else, and they seem not to know that the word 
ever had any other meaning.' The Jacobite or 
Pliiloxenian Syriac version, made probably in the 
eighth century, closely follows the example of the 
Peschito. 

" The learned historian Augusti, according to 
Dr. Murdock, accounts for this peculiarity in 
this venerable version, by the fact that at the 
time it was made there existed in Syria a sect 
professing to be disciples of John the Baptist, 



CLASSIC USAGE. 209 

and calling themselves Zahiaiis^ i, e. Dippers, from 
tseba^ to dip. He supposes the Syrian Christians 
wished to be distinguished from these, and there- 
fore, for this purpose, and to avoid ambiguity in 
their theological language, they chose to desig- 
nate baptism by a word which denotes no out- 
ward modal act, but the spiritual import of the 
rite as they understood it. lb. p. 743. 

'' Now all this is significant in the highest de- 
gree. Here is the very first version of the New 
Testament ever made, nearly if not quite in the 
time of the apostles, in almost the very vernacu- 
lar of the Lord and of his disciples, — the stan- 
dard Scriptures of one of the oldest, most vener- 
able, and most numerous branches of the Orien- 
tal church, in which the idea of immersion or 
any other modal act is most carefully excluded 
from baptism, and from every allusion to it, even 
in the very name of the Baptist himself. Did 
the authors of this version, of whom there is a 
tradition that they were appointed by the apostle 
Thaddeus himself, (Kitto. Bib. Cyc.) believe 
that the form was so essential that without it the 
rite was no baptism ? Was the whole Syrian 
Church, with all its offshoots and descendants, 
suffered to be built upon an error which would 



210 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

vitiate its very existence and make it no church ? 
Nor was this a possible clanger, only, for we shall 
see hereafter that not only immersion but pour- 
ing and sprinkling have been, in fact, practiced in 
these churches of the far East as valid baptism, 
and are to this day. 

■''' The oldest Arabic version, dating from the 
seventh century, is believed to have been made 
from the Syriac, with some alterations, and fol- 
lows that in the translation of the word baptizo 
in a majority of places, — Murdock says in forty- 
nine out of seventy-three, while twenty-four 
have a word signifying immersion. 

''' The oldest Persic version was also made from 
the Peschito about the eighth century. It uses 
a word signifying generally to wash. (Chrystal 
p. 54.) 

"• The ancient Egyptian contains three impor- 
tant versions, the Coptic^ the Saliidic^ and the 
Bashmuric^ all of them dating from the second 
and third centuries. Two of these transfer the 
Greek word without translating it ; the third is 
said to use a word signifying to immerse. 

''All of the early Latin versions, I believe, 
without exception, transfer the Greek baptizo, 
without translating it. This is true of the Itala^ 



CLASSIC USAGE. 211 

which Augustine regarded as the best of all, and 
which goes back, apparently, to the second cen- 
tury, and to usage connected with the apostolic 
age. (Robinson's Lex. p. 119.) So also with 
the Latin Vulgate^ prepared by Jerome, and made 
the standard authority in the Catholic church, as 
it has been the mother of nearly all the transla- 
tions into the various Romanic tongues of mod- 
ern Europe, our own English included. 

''The ancient Grothic version, dating in the 
fourth century, and those of most of the modern 
languages of the same stock, including the Ger- 
man, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, etc., have the 
word dip, or its equivalent. The Anglo-Saxon 
had also the word fullian^ to cleanse, to bleach, 
from which comes our word 'fuller.' Li Matt. 
3: 1, it reads, 'In those days came John the 
Fuller,' etc. The Icelandic has skira^ to scour, 
or cleanse. 

" The Slavonic dialects, viz., the Russian, Po- 
lish, Bohemian, Lithuanian, etc., translate bap- 
tizo by a word signifying to cross^ evidently from 
the sign of the cross, used in the administration 
of the rite, 

" So far, then, as the early versions are con- 
cerned, the weight of their testimony is de- 



212 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

cidedly against the exclusive claims of immer- 
sion. All the oldest and most valuable, with 
scarce an exception, either translate the word by 
something different from that, or they transfer 
it bodily. None of them exhibits such a usage 
as it should, on the theory of Carson, Conant and 
others, that it means 'mode and nothing else.' 
What can more conclusively show that the 
learned and pious men, who gave these versions 
to their countrymen, saw no such exclusive 
meaning in the originals, and felt no obligation to 
thrust it upon the words which were to teach the 
will of Christ to mankind? " 

''But I have heard it affirmed," said Mary, 
" that the translators of our English Bible were 
forbidden by King James to translate baptizo, 
and were required to transfer it as we now have 
it." 

" Nothing can be more untrue than this. No 
order to this effect can be found in the instruc- 
tions given them. Baptize and baptism had been 
naturalized English words two hundred years, 
and as such were used by Wiclif himself, in the 
first English translation ever made, in 1380, in 
which, as I have said, he followed the example of 
the Vulgate, and many of the most venerable 



CLASSIC USAGE. 213 

versions of antiquity. Besides, immersion was 
not then an English word at all, but Latin." 

'' But why do you suppose these words were 
ever transferred, in any language ? " asked Ar- 
thur. 

" Because they are words which, in their reli- 
gious sense, have a unique meaning, which is not 
convej^ed by any uninspired word whatever. 
Baptizo, in this sense, does not mean to immerse, 
or sprinkle, or pour, or even, generically, to 
wash. Even the Baptists, who say it means to 
immerse, never use it to denote that idea, except 
when referring to the Christian ordinance. Its 
force, as the authors of the Peschito understood 
it, is in its inward spiritual signification. It 
means to wash with water, in the name of the 
Trinity, as an emblem of the renewing of the 
Holy Ghost. What outward act, — what other 
word, in any language soever, means just that ? 
And, therefore, because there was none, this 
word, the one which the Holy Spirit himself 
selected and stamped with his own image, was 
transferred, like the precious coin struck in the 
mint of Heaven, which was to pass current in all 
lands and languages, as the one symbolizing and 
pledging the grace of our God towards a lost 
world." 



214 THE MODE OF BAPTISM, 



CHAPTER VI. 

USAGES OF THE EARLY CHUECH. 

WHAT do you propose to make the topic of 
consideration this evening ? " said Joseph 
Mason to his uncle at their next meeting. 

'' Just what will be most agreeable to you, and 
the rest of our company," responded Mr. Stan- 
ley. '' There are yet several matters of impor- 
tance involved in this discussion, and I am ready 
to take up any of them winch may be pre- 
ferred." 

'' Suppose, then, we inquire what was the prac- 
tice of the early church, as to the mode of bap- 
tism. We Baptists are accustomed to regard tliis 
as strongly favoring our views, and I should have 
been inclined to urge it with a good deal of con- 
fidence, but for the ill success which has so far 
attended my advocacy of our cause." 

'' I certainly do not think the testimony of the 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CITUHCH. 215 

early cliurch is so much in their favor as Baptists 
are in the habit of representing it, but of this we 
shall be able to judge after we have examined it. 
Before, however, we proceed to this, let us en- 
deavor to get a distinct idea of the nature of the 
argument from this source, and the weight that 
properly belongs to it. Of course, you do not 
regard the opinions and practice of the early 
church as authority^ do you ? " 

" Oh, no ; they are important only as a guide 
to the right interpretation of the baptismal com- 
mission. It is to be presumed that those who 
lived near the time of the apostles had special 
advantages for understanding it. They were 
familiar with the language in which the rite was 
instituted, and with the mode under which it had 
been practiced ever since the apostolic days. 
What, then, they did and said upon the subject, 
should be taken as a very sure indication of the 
method -originally intended." 

" Yes, unless it can be shown that there were 
influences which caused a departure from the 
original mode. Neither of us can doubt, for in- 
stance, that church government early became a 
very different thing from what it was in the 
apostles' day, when the churches were all inde- 



216 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

pendent of each other, and every pastor was sole 
bishop of his own flock. Ambition on the part 
of the metropolitan ecclesiastics led to usurpa- 
tions of power which coriupted the simplicity 
of the primitive pattern, and ultimated in the 
papacy and the inquisition. So with the sacra- 
ments, — before we accept the practice of the 
early church as a certain guide to their original 
form, we ought to inquire whether or not there 
were causes which tended to corrupt the original 
institution and introduce customs not only un- 
known to the apostolic practice, but absolutely 
hostile to it. 

'^ It is well also to remind ourselves that the 
question before us is as to the exclusive claims of 
immersion. If it could be proved that the early 
church did in fact practice it, yet nothing would 
be thereby estabhshed as to its sole validity. It 
must be shown that they held with the Baptists 
that nothing else than immersion was baptism, 
and that they withheld fellowship from all who 
had not received it in that method. In other 
words, the task resting upon these brethren, be- 
fore they can claim the practice of antiquity in 
their support, is to prove that the rite was never 
corrupted, and that it was always as exclusive as 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 217 

to its form as it is with them, — both of which I 
tliink we shall see is beyond their power." 

" Well, father, we are waiting to hear you in 
relation to these points," said Mary. 

" My first remark then," said Mr. Stanley, "is 
that as to the practice of the church in the first 
century, there is among the Apostolic fathers, a 
total silence. Those fathers, so called because 
they were either conversant with the apostles 
themselves or Avith their immediate disciples, 
were Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Bar- 
nabas, and Hermas. They often allude to bap- 
tism, its signification and its benefits, but there is 
not a word to show what importance they at- 
tached to the mode, or even to show certainly 
what the mode was. Barnabas once or twice 
speaks of those who ' go down to the water ' — 
hatahainomen eis to Jiudor — a phrase apparently 
derived from Acts 8 : 38, which, as we have seen 
in the baptism of the eunuch by Philip, deter- 
mines nothing as to the form. Hermas uses an 
equivalent Latin expression — in aquam descen- 
dimus. This language is precisely what would 
be natural if the rite was performed in the man- 
ner which I said was most probable in the case 
of the eunuch, and which is so constantly ex- 



218 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

hibited in the pictorial representations of Christ's 
baptism, which I will presently show you. 
Neither of these writers speaks of immersion, or 
uses any word or phrase implying it. 

" Now this fact is to my mind very significant. 
This was the era of planting churches, and intro- 
ducing the Christian rites into new regions and 
among people of various languages and races. 
How often, both among Jews and heathens, must 
the nature and use of these rites have been ex- 
plained, and what care taken to guard them from 
perversions and abuses, such as actually took 
place among the Corinthians. Yet never do we 
find in all this period, among all the Christian 
writers of the apostolic age, any reference at all 
to the mode of baptism. How can this be ac- 
counted for if there was any invariable mode, or 
if the mode was deemed of any consequence 
whatever ? Our Baptist brethren have now been 
prosecuting their missionary work about the same 
length of time. Would it not be easy to find in 
their missionary literature very many statements 
as to what they deem the true form of this sacra- 
ment ? Whence the contrast between these and 
what we find to be true of the first missionary 
literature of the church ? " 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 219 

'' How was it in the second century?" inquired 
Arthur. 

" Nearly the same as in the first. The Chris- 
tian writers of this period were Justin Martyr, 
Irenseus, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, 
Clement of Alexandria, TertuUian, and a consid- 
erable number of others whose works have 
mostly perished. Out of all these, two only 
have left us anything on the subject. The first 
was Justin Martyr, who was put to death in a 
persecution in A. D. 168. In his Apology for 
the Christians, addressed to the Emperor An- 
toninus Pius, he describes the manner in which 
converts were then received into the church. 
He says, ' Then they are conducted by us where 
there is water, and are regenerated in the same 
way of regeneration in which we ourselves were 
regenerated. In the name of " God, the Father 
and Lord of all things, and of Jesus Christ our 
Saviour, and of the Holy Spirit, they then make 
the washing in the water, — Z6>^^^ro7^ poiountai. 
For Christ says, '' Except ye be born again, ye 
cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." And 
by Isaiah, the prophet, it was said in what Avay 
those who have sinned and repented, might 
escape from their sins. '' Wash you, make you 



220 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

clean, etc." ' Then after explaining the neces- 
sity of the new birth, he adds, 'And this wash- 
ing — to loutron — is called an enlightening^'' etc. 

''Notice now the peculiar language of this 
Father. In explaining to the Roman Emperor, 
most carefully, the nature of the initiatory Chris- 
tian rite, he does not call it immersion nor pour- 
ing, nor any other term implying form. He even 
avoids the word baptism itself, as if feeling that 
a heathen,^ with only a heathen's conception of 
the import of that word, would wholly mistake 
the Christian idea of it. So he calls it, simply, a 
washing^ a term which excludes all idea of form ; 
and ' the washing,' as if this were the customary 
designation of the rite. Surely, this is not the 
way that a Baptist of our day would have spoken 
of it. The phrase to 'go where there is water,' 
— entha hudor esti — proves nothing. It may sug- 
gest that they were accustomed to go out of the 
church for baptism, to a fountain or a baptisterj^, 
as we have evidence that the latter came into use 
very early, but how, when they reached it, the 
rite itself was performed, he does not say.^ 



^In this connection may be cited Justin MartjT^s statement that 
sprinkling with holy water "was invented by demons, in imitation of 
the true baptism, signified by the prophets, that their votaries, (those 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 221 

'' The other writer of that century who speaks 
of baptism was TertuUian. He was born about 
A. D., 140, and wrote a treatise, — ' On Baptism' 
— in opposition to a person named Quintilla, who 
rejected this sacrament altogether. The precise 
date of it is unknown, but it must have been at 
the very close of the century, if within it at all. 
It is in this, that we find the first clear descrip- 
tion of the mode of baptism, as then practiced." 

'' And that was by immersion, was it not ? " 
said Joseph. 

" Yes ; or rathef by triple, or, as they usually 
called it, trine immersion, which ever after, for a 
thousand years, at least, was the law of the 
church. Observe now, this was more than a 
century and a half after the institution of the 
ordinance, a period as long as from our day back 
a life time before the Revolution ; and during all 
this period of intense activity, amid all the con- 
quests of the church, and under all its persecu- 
tions, no writer, so far as we know, made any 
allusion to the form of the rite, or so described it, 



of the demons \ might also have their pretended purifications b}' wa- 
ter." If sprinkling was an imitation of the true baptism, then the lat- 
ter would seem, at least, to include sprinkling. Taylor's Ap. Bap. 
p. U3. 



222 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

that we can tell what that form was, while, at 
the same time, that form, as we are now told, was 
essential to its reality, so that without it, the rite 
could not exist, and, of course, the church itself, 
which could be entered only in that way, be per- 
petuated." 

''Well,-' said Joseph, "however unaccounta- 
ble this silence may seem during that period, we 
have now reached a more certain era. In Ter- 
tuUian's day the practice undeniably was im- 
mersion ; and, as you say, it continued such for a 
very long time thereafter." 

'' Yes, and the reason unquestionably is, that 
there had now been fully developed the perni- 
cious doctrine of baptismal regeneration. There 
seems to be an innate tendency in mankind to 
lose sight of the spiritual, and sink it in what is 
material. Even in the apostles' day, the Corin- 
thians degraded the sister sacrament of the Sup- 
per to the level of a heathen festival. So, too, 
the Saviour's words to Nicodemus were made to 
teach the necessity of baptism to salvation, nay, 
that baptism is regeneration. We have seen how 
Justin Martyr, even, used the term in that sense, 
as denoting the rite itself. And having reached 
that point, then the mode of the rite became im- 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 223 

portant. Water having become a saving ele- 
ment — >aqua salutaris ' — the more of it the 
surer the salvation. Paul's expressions in Rom. 
6: 3-6; Col. 2: 12, must be literalized by ^, burial 
in the water ; nay the believer must go down 
into, and come out of, the water three times ^ ^i'^ 
the sun went down and rose again three times 
while Jesus lay in the grave. Thus IjVOIERSIOK 

AND BAPTISMAL REGEInTERATION WERE DEVEL- 
OPED TOGETHER IN THE EARLY CHURCH. I 

wish not only to call your attention to the fact, 
but to give it specia.1 emphasis. No trace of 
the former was found before, or apart from, 
the latter. 

^' In the light of these facts we are now pre- 
pared to study the testimony of TertuUian and 
his contemporaries. ' When,' said he, ' we are 
about to go to the water, we do in the church 
declare, under the hand of the priest, that we 
renounce -the devil, his pomp, and his angels ; 
then are we immersed three times — ter mergi- 
tamur — answering somewhat more than the Lord 
in the gospel prescribed,' ^. ^., probably in re- 
sponse to inquiries^ declaring their faith in re- 
spect to other things besides those which were 
fundamental, as to the person and death of 



224 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Christ. In the third century, Hippolytus writes, 
' He who goes down with faith into the bath of 
regeneration is arrayed against the evil one, and 
on the side of Clirist ; he denies the enemy, and 
confesses Christ to be God; he puts off bondage, 
and puts on sonship ; he comes up from baptism, 
bright as the sun, flashing forth the rays of right- 
eousness ; but, greatest of all, he comes up a son 
of God, and a fellow heir with Christ.' Cyril of 
Jerusalem is still more explicit. ' After these 
things, ye were led to the holy pool of divine 
baptism, as Christ was carried from the cross to 
the sepulcher, which is before our eyes. And 
each of you was asked whether he believed in 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost, and ye made that saving confes- 
sion, and descended three times into the water, 
and ascended again, here also covertly pointing, 
by a figure, to the three days' burial of Christ. 
For, as our Saviour passed three days and three 
nights in the heart of the earth, so you also, in 
your first ascent out of the water, represented 
the first day of Christ in the earth, and by your 
descent, the night ; for as he who is in the night 
sees no more, but he who is in the day remains 
in the light, so in descending, ye saw nothing as 



USAGES OF THE EAKLY CHURCH. 225 

in the night, but in ascending again ye were as in 
the day. And at the selfsame moment ye died 
and were born, and that water of salvation was 
at once your grave and your mother.' Basil of 
Caesarea says, — 'In three immersions, and in 
the same number of invocations, the great mys- 
tery of baptism is finished, so that both the figure 
of death is exhibited, and the souls of the bap- 
tized are illuminated by the transmission of the 
knowledge of God.' Jerome gives a somewhat 
diflferent view of the import of the triple immer- 
sion. ' We are thrice immersed, that the mystery 
of the Trinity may appear to be but one. It may 
be called one baptism, because, though we are 
thrice immersed, on account of the mystery of 
the Trinity, yet it is reputed one baptism.' 
After the rise of the Arian controversy, and the 
prevalent denial of the doctrine of the Trinity, 
tins special significance of the mode of baptism 
by a triple immersion became the predominant 
view of Christian writers. That this was the 
regular mode of baptism is testified by all the 
Fathers for many centuries." 

'' I am glad to hear such an admission from a 
Pedobaptist," said Joseph, with a smile. " It 
fully confirms our position, that the early churches 
all practiced immersion." 



226 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" The facts of history, I should hope, would 
not be denied by any body, however they may 
bear on his personal opinions," said Mr. Stanley. 
''Let me, however, advise you not to boast too 
soon of the support of early usage, for it -may be 
found to prove altogether too much for your con- 
venience." 

" Did not the Fathers insist that a threefold 
immersion was necessary?''^ asked Mary. 

'' Certainly ; and their reasoning was almost 
identical with that of the Baptists in behalf of a 
single immersion, and, for aught I can see, was 
just as conclusive. They claimed that it was re- 
quired by the very terms of the baptismal com- 
mission. First, by the word haptizo. Prof. Stu- 
art, after citing examples from TertuUian and 
Jerome, remarks, ' It would appear, then, that a 
feeling existed among some of the Latin Fathers, 
when they rendered haptizo by mergito^ that bap- 
tizo is, in its appropriate sense, what the gram- 
marians and lexicographers call a frequentative 
verb, L e., one which denotes repetition of the 
action v/hich it indicates. Nor are they alone in 
this. Some of the best Greek scholars of the 
present and past age have expressed the same 
opinion in a more definite shape.' Prof. S., on 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 227 

the whole, dissents from this conclusion, as he 
does from the similar claim that the word always 
signifies immersion ; nevertheless, the statement 
is interesting as showing how these Fathers rea- 
soned on the subject. Others argued from the 
structure of the commission, that the word bap- 
tize was to be understood as repeated before each 
name. Thus TertuUian, — ' Commanding that 
they should immerse into the Father, and the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost ; not into one, for 
neither are we immersed once, but three times, 
at each name into each person.' Chrysos- 
tom, — ' Christ delivered to his disciples one bap- 
tism in three immersions of the body, when he 
said to them, '' Go teach all nations," ' etc. 
Jerome did not insist that the triple form was 
enjoined in the Scriptures, but that it had come 
down from the apostles by tradition, and was 
regarded as of equal authority in all the 
church." 

" And I suppose," said Mary, ^' we may add, 
as Baptists are wont to do, ' These Fathers 
understood the Greek, and must have known 
what the apostles' practice was better than we.' 
But if they were right, then the latter are as 
wrong as we are. If three immersions were re- 



228 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

quired, then the rite is not performed if there is 
but one." 

"That is precisely^ what was then said/' re- 
phed her father. - '' The custom of single immer- 
sion was of heretical origin, growing out of an 
attempt to evade the argument in behalf of the 
Trinity, derived from the triple form. The first 
person who taught and practiced it was Eunomi- 
us, an Arian bishop of Cyzicum, A. D. 360. Of 
the estimation in which he and his heretical inno- 
vation was held, Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus 
A. D. 420, thus speaks, ' He subverted the law 
of holy baptism, which had been handed down 
from the beginning from the Lord and the apos- 
tles, and made a contrary law, asserting that it is 
not necessary to immerse the candidate for bap- 
tism thrice, nor to mention the names of the 
Trinity, but to immerse once only into the death 
of Christ.' In like manner, Sozomen, the learned 
church historian of the same century wrote, 
' Some say that he [Eunomius] was the first who 
dared to bring forward the notion, that the divine 
baptism ought to be administered by a single im- 
mersion ; and to corrupt the tradition which has 
been handed down from apostles, and which is 
still observed hj all,' — en past. He calls these 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 229 

' heretical opinions,' and argues against them in a 
manner curiously applicable to those who now 
practice the same. These innovators, he says, 
regard all who have not been baptized in their 
way, (z. ^., by a single immersion into the death 
of Christ), as unbaptized persons, and always re- 
baptize in this way all who join their sect, though 
they had already been baptized in the usual waj^, 
(z. e. by three immersions into the Trinity). 
But, as it is plain that none can perform the rite 
but those who have themselves received it, so 
they, having only had the aforesaid three immer- 
sions, are, by their own principles, unbaptized. 
Therefore, both they and their disciples are des- 
titute of the benefits of this saving ordinance, 
and in danger of dying unbaptized. These 
statements of Theodoret and Sozomen, in con- 
demnation of single immersion, were confirmed 
by the highest authority of the age. The *■ Apos- 
tolic Canons,' falsely ascribed to Clement of 
Rome, and yet, as Murdock remarks, ' valuable 
documents respecting the order and discipline of 
the church, about the third century ' decreed : — 
' If any bishop or presbyter do not perform three 
immersions of one initiation, but one immersion, 
which is given into the death of Christ, let him 



230 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

be deposed ; for the Lord did not say,/' Baptize 
into my death," but, "- Go ye and make disciples 
of all nations," etc." Upon this canon, the 
annotator, Balsamon, (12th century) remarks, 
' The canon says, he shall be deposed, as one who 
acts contrary to the doctrine of the Lord, and 
who is openly impious.' And Zonaras, (same 
century), ' To immerse once only the person to 
be baptized in the holy laver, and to celebrate 
one immersion only into the death of the Lord, 
is impious ; and the one who so baptizes shall be 
deposed.' 

" This decree was re-affirmed by the second 
general council held at Constantinople, in A. D. 
381. After specifying various classes of 'here- 
tics ' who were to be received to the church with- 
out rebaptizing upon a written renunciation of 
their errors, it adds, ' But the Eunomians ivho 
baptize with one immersion ... if they wish to 
be joined to the orthodox faith, we receive as 
heathens, and on the first day, we make them 
Christians, on the second, catechumens ; then, 
on the third, we exorcise them with blowing 
three times in. their faces and ears; and then we 
instruct them, and oblige them to remain some 
time in the church and hear the Scriptures ; and 
then we baptize them,' 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 231 

'^ This decree, from a body of so high authority, 
sufficed to put a stop to the obnoxious practice 
among the orthodox churches, and we hear 
nothing more of the single immersion till about 
the end of the 6th century. Then the matter 
came up again and in a curious way. ' The 
Arians in Spain,' says Bingham, ' not being of the 
sect of the Eunomians, continued for many years 
to baptize with three immersions ; but then they 
abused this ceremony to a very perverse end, to 
patronize their error about the Son and Holy 
Ghost's being of a different nature or essence 
from the Father ; for they made the three immer- 
sions to denote a difference or degrees of divin- 
ity in the three Divine Persons. To oppose 
whose wdcked doctrine, and that they might not 
seem to symbolize with them in any practice that 
might give encouragement to it, some Catholics, 
[or orthodox] began to leave off the trine im- 
mersion as savoring of Arianism, and took up 
the single immersion in opposition to them.' 
(Antiq. vol. 1: p. 541.) This practice, however, 
led to a controversy in the Spanish Church, which 
was referred to Gregory the Great, bishop of 
Rome, (a. d. 590) who decided in favor of the 
single immersion, on the sole ground that he 



232 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

would not countenance the practice of those 
heretics ; and this view was confirmed by a pro- 
vincial synod at Toledo, in 633. This custom, 
however, always continued local and exceptional, 
the great body of the church, west and east, ad- 
hering for many centuries later, as the latter does 
to this day, to the ancient method of trine im- 
mersion. But even where tolerated, the single 
immersion was recognized as a departure from the 
original and normal method, to be defended only 
on the ground of expediency." 

'' Do you mean then to say," asked Miss Ash- 
ton, '' that baptism as it is now practiced by the 
Baptists, by a single immersion, had no support in 
the sentiments and usages of the early church." 

''I do mean precisely that. It originated 
among the bitterest enemies of the orthodox 
faith, the most radical rejecters of the doctrine 
of the Trinity. It was at once declared to be 
an innovation and a heresy, contrary to the origi- 
nal institution of Christ, and to the authority of 
the apostles received by tradition ; and whatever 
presbyter or bishop practiced it was ordered by 
the highest authority of Christendom, an Ecu- 
menical Council, to be deposed. They who had 
been baptized in that way were pronounced un- 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 233 

baptized, and could not be received into the 
orthodox communion without rebaptism in the 
name of the Trinity. And when, at length, after 
nearly six hundred years, it gained a footing of 
toleration, it was confessedly as an innovation, 
made without any authority except expediency, 
for the purpose of avoiding symbolizing with 
heretics, though it was by a branch of the same 
heretics that the single immersion itself was orig- 
inated. If there was any custom whatever, 
which beyond all others was rejected and repro- 
bated by the unanimous, voice of the orthodox 
church for six hundred years, it was this very 
one of baptism by one immersion, which is now 
urged upon us as the one having the consent of 
all antiquity, and absolutely essential to the va- 
lidity of the rite itself I" 

''But the ground of dissatisfaction with it, if 
I understand you," said Joseph, ''was not that it 
was immersion^ but that it was a single adminis- 
tration, representing a heresy in doctrine." 

" True, and this was a more heinous fault, in 
the estimation of the church, than pouring or 
sprinkling would have been. These, as we shall 
presently see, were in many cases expressly 
allowed, and were always admitted to be valid ; 



234 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

the other, never. But leaving this matter for the 
present, let me advert to another practice of 
nearly equal antiquity and universality in the 
church, — that of requiring all persons, whether 
men, women, or children, to receive baptiiim 
wholly divested of their clothing, 

''No custom of antiquity is better established 
by testimony than this. Thus Chrysostom 
(Hom. 6.) says, ' Men were as naked as Adam in 
paradise, but with this difference : Adam was 
naked, because he had sinned, but in baptism a 
man was naked that he might be freed from sin.' 
Ambrose (Ser. 10.) says, ' Naked were we born 
into the world ; naked came we to the baptismal 
font. ... How absurd, then, that he whom his 
mother brought forth naked, and the church re- 
ceived naked, should enter heaven with riches ! ' 
Cyril of Jerusalem also testifies, (Cat. Mys. 2), 
' As soon as ye came to the baptistery, ye put off 
your clothes, . . . and being thus divested, j^e 
stood naked, imitating Christ, who was naked 
upon the cross. . . . Oh wonderful thing ! ye 
were naked in the sight of men, and were not 
ashamed, in this truly imitating the first man, 
Adam, who was naked in paradise, and was not 
ashamed.' Once more : Chrysostom, in describ- 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 235 

ing the violent proceedings of his enemies against 
him, says, ^ They came into the church armed, 
and by violence expelled the clergy, killing 
many in the baptistery ; by which the women 
who were at that time unclothed in order to be 
baptized, were put into such a fright that they 
fled away naked, and could not stay, in their ter- 
ror, to put on such clothes, as the modesty of the 
sex required.' Bingham Antiq. vol. 1 : p. 636. 

"- The universality of this custom is admitted 
by the Baptist historian, Robinson. ' There is,' 
says he, ' no historical fact better authenticated 
than this.' The learned Dr. Wall (Hist. Inf. 
Bap. Part 2.) says, ' The ancient Christians, 
when they were baptized by immersion, were all 
baptized naked, whether they were men, women, 
or children. The proofs of this I shall omit, be- 
cause it is a clear case. They thought it better 
represented the putting off of the old man, and 
also the nakedness of Christ on the cross. More- 
over, as baptism is a washing, they judged it 
should be a washing of the body, not of the 
clothes.' He also says, ' They took great care to 
preserve the modesty of any woman that was to 
be baptized. There were none but women came 
near, or in sight, till she was undressed, and her 



236 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

body in the water, then the priest came, and put- 
ting her head under the water used the form of 
baptism. Then he departed, and the women 
took her out of the water, and clothed her again 
with white garments.' 

'' This service in connection with the baptism of 
females was specially assigned to the deaconesses 
of the church. Epiphanius, the learned historian 
of the fourth century, even says they were insti- 
tuted for the purpose of preserving a due regard 
for the modesty of the sex.^ 

'' This subject, I am aware, is too revolting to 
dwell upon, yet it is due to the facts of history 
that it should at least be referred to. If all the 
facts connected with it could be stated, it would 
afford one of the most astonishing instances of 
the extent to which an undue regard for forms 
and rites might carry even the church. Says the 
venerable Dr. Miller, of Princeton, ' We have 
the very same evidence in favor of immersing 
divested of all clothing, that we have for im- 



" lEst quidem ordo diaconissarnm in Ecclesia; sed non est institutus 
ad fuuctionem sacerdotii, vel adaliquam ejusmodi administrationein, sed 
ut muliebris sexus honestati consulatur, sive ut tempore adsit bap- 
tismi, sive quando nudandum est mulieris corpus, ne ab iis conspi- 
ciatur, qui sacris operantur, sed a sola videatur diaconissa, quse jussu 
sacerdotis, curam mulieris gerit dum vestibus exuitur." Taylor's 
Ap. Baptism p. 168. 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 237 

mersing at all ; that so far as the history of the 
church subsequent to the apostolic age informs 
us, these two practices must stand or fall to- 
gether, and that an appendage to baptism so re- 
volting, so immoral, and so entirely inadmissible, 
plainly shows that those who practiced it must 
have been chargeable with a superstitious and ex- 
travagant adoption of a mere form, which, from 
its character, we are compelled to believe was a 
human invention, and took its rise in the rude- 
ness of growing superstition, perhaps from a 
source still more impure and criminal.' Inf. Bap. 
p. 83." 

" How long did this extraordinary practice 
continue ? " asked Arthur. 

'' To a greater or less extent until the time of 
the Reformation; indeed, in some, branches of 
the church, it survives to the present day. The 
distinguished Catholic historian Brenner, says, 
' For sixteen hundred years was the person to 
be baptized, either by immersion or affusion, en- 
tirely divested of his garments.' Am. Bib. Rep. 
vol. 3 : p. 361." 

'^ Were not other superstitious ceremonies 
practiced in connection with the administration 
of baptism ? " inquired Mary. 



238 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

'' Oh yes, many. Once having departed from 
the primitive simphcity of the rite, other steps 
followed in rapid succession until the institution 
was scarcely recognizable. Inasmuch as water 
was endowed with such mysterious efficacy, it 
was soon thought necessary that it should be 
consecrated. ' The water,' says Tertulhan (De 
Bap.) ' must first be cleansed and sanctified by 
the priest, in order that, by its own baptism, it 
may be able to wash away the sins of the man 
who is baptized.' Indeed it was supposed to un- 
dergo a sort of transubstantiation, like that 
which was alleged to take place in the bread and. 
wine of the eucharist. It became the blood of 
Christ, in which believers were washed from 
every stain. (Bingham, Ant. vol. 1 : p. 534.) 
" Anointing with oil soon followed; then exorcism, 
or driving away the devil ; then the laying on of 
hands, in token of the reception of the Holj^ 
Ghost. Insufflation, or breathing upon the candi- 
date, was another ceremony of like import. 
Then persons had their eyes anointed with clay, 
in imitation of the healing of the blind man, 
(John 9:6), and their ears opened with the word 
Ephphatha, (Mark 7: 34). Inasmuch as the 
baptized were newly born, honey and milk were 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 239 

administered to them, as suitable food for babes ; 
a pinch of salt, symbolical of wisdom, was laid 
upon their tongues ; the head was solemnly 
covered and uncovered, to denote the attainment 
of spiritual freedom ; the sign of the cross ap- 
plied ; followed by the kiss of peace, and some- 
times by the washing of the feet. Lastly, they 
were clothed in white garments as an emblem of 
innocence, which they were to wear for eight 
days, and provided with lighted torches, 'as a 
figure of those lamps of faith wherewith bright 
and virgin souls shall go forth to meet the Bride- 
groom.' " Coleman Anc. Christ, pp. 367-378. 

"' You spoke just now," said Arthur, " of the 
baptism of children as well as of men and 
women. Do you then regard it as certain that 
the early church practiced infant baptism ? " 

" As certain as that they baptized at all. Allu- 
sions to it are found in the writings of the very 
earliest Fathers. Thus. Hermas, in the apostolic 
age, says, ' The seal of the Son of God is neces- 
sary for every one to enter into the kingdom of 
heaven,' and ' that seal is baptism.' He held, of 
course, that infants are saved, pronouncing them 
' valued by our Lord and esteemed first of all.' 
Justin Martyr (born A. D. 114) says, ' I know 



240 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

many of both sexes, sixty and seventy years old, 
who were made disciples to Christ from child- 
hood.' Irenseus, the disciple of Polycarp, born 
before the death of the apostle John, speaks of 
infants and little ones — infantes et parvulos — 
who were ' regenerated unto God ' — the custom- 
ary term, in that age, denoting baptism. Tertul- 
lian, who is often quoted, by the rejecters of 
pedobaptism as one who opposed it, nevertheless 
bears witness to its prevalence in his day, and 
gives his advice, not against the practice itself, 
but in favor of some delay in its administration. 
Origen (born A. D. 185) says, expressly, ' The 
church had from the apostles the tradition to 
give baptism to young children ' ; also, ' accord- 
ing to the usage of the church, it is likewise 
given to little children.' From that time on- 
ward, infant baptism is habitually spoken of as a 
universal practice. Augustine (born A. D. 354) 
declares it to be ' that which the universal church 
holds, and not instituted by councils, but was 
ever in use, and most rightly believed to be 
handed down by none other than apostolical au- 
thority.' I need not, however, go into the mat- 
ter at length, for it is a subject foreign to our 
present purpose." 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 241 

''We freely concede," said Joseph, ''that in- 
fant baptism was early introduced into the 
church, and we account for it, as you do for im- 
mersion, in the prevalence of the unscriptural 
doctrine of baptismal regeneration, But this 
does not prove that it was practiced by Christ 
or the apostles." 

" And yet you argue from the early prevalence 
of immersion that that was practiced by them. 
You are strangely inconsistent in your reasoning,, 
for if the argument is good for anything in the 
latter case, it is in the former. But without 
stopping now to determine whether infant bap- 
tism originated in the doctrine of baptismal re- 
generation or not, there can be no doubt that 
that doctrine would, at least, tend to the con- 
servation of that rite, and give it universal 
acceptance. The doctrine, as we have seen, ap- 
pears in the very earliest uninspired writings in 
the apostolic age, and is so far a corroboration of 
the statements of Origen and Augustine, that the 
rite itself was derived from the apostles." 

"I have often," remarked Mary, "heard it 
said by Baptists that infant baptism is a relic of 
popery, but according to the evidence now given, 
it was the universal custom of the church centu- 
ries before the papacy began." 



242 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" Yes. It is one of the unhappy instances 
where use is made of prejudice rather than of 
argument or fact, to excite odium against a mat- 
ter in controversy. It is devoutly to be hoped 
that the time is not distant when good men wiU 
not feel their need of defending their positions 
•by such methods." 

" We have now," continued Mr. Stanley, 
"seen what was the regular way of administering 
baptism in the churches of the third and follow- 
ing centuries. It was by a triple immersion of 
either adults or infants^ in a state of nudity^ ac- 
companied by a variety of superstitious ceremo- 
nies emblematic of regeneration^ which was be- 
lieved to be effected in this sacrament. But this 
historical survey would be extremely defective if 
I did not add that there was also a very different 
mode which, in certain specified circumstances, 
was allowed, and even in all cases was held to be 
valid, viz., the method of spkinkling oe- poue- 

IKG." 

'' Will you be good enough to state the proof 
of that fact ? " said Joseph. 

" I was about to do so," replied Mr. Stanley. 
" When the early churches had developed this 
' regular ' mode of baptism, and, by the authority 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 243 

of bishops and councils, established it as the law 
of the ordinance, they found that they had im- 
posed on themselves a rite which, for large num- 
bers of persons, was too heav}^ to be borne. The 
sick, the infirm, tender infants, individuals at the 
point of death, etc., could not receive it. And 
yet the reception of it was believed to be indis- 
pensable to salvation. The words of Christ to 
Nicodemus, ' Except a man,' they read, and 
rightly too, ' Except a person,' ^. e, any person — 
ei ms tis — ' be born of water and of the Spirit, 
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' Here 
then, they were in great straits. If this was the 
sole way of salvation, it was to multitudes a hard 
way. Christ's yoke was not easy, nor his burden 
light. 

'' What should be done in such cases ? They 
could not give up their sick and dying friends to 
assured perdition ; and they could not hasten 
their death by carrying them to a river or pool, 
to be stripped naked and plunged thrice beneath 
the waters. In this emergency, affection and 
common sense triumphed over ritualism and 
superstition. They forgot the ' modal ' meaning 
of baptizo ; they forgot the necessity of a literal 
' burial with Christ ' in the baptismal waters, and 



244 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

concluded that it was sufficient, after all, to bap- 
tize by sprinkling or pouring of the water, in the 
name of the Trinity. 

" The first formal deliverance on this subject 
was that of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, and 
sixty-six other bishops then attending a council 
in that city, A. D. 255. The growing tendency 
to magnify forms had awakened doubts whether 
these simpler modes of baptism were valid, and 
a country clergyman, named Magnus, addressed a 
letter to the bishop, asking his opinion. Cypri- 
an's reply was as follows : — ' You have asked 
me, my dear son, my opinion concerning those 
who have obtained the grace of God in infirmity 
and weakness, whether they are to be regarded 
as lawful Christians since they have not been 
washed, but affased with the saving water. In 
this matter, our diffidence and modesty prejudge 
no one, that he should not believe as he thinks, 
and act as he believes. As our humble opinion 
conceives, we think that the divine benefits can 
not be curtailed or weakened, nor that anything 
which is derived from the divine gifts can be 
diminished, when it is received with a full and 
entire faith on the part of both the administrator 
and the receiver. For in the saving sacrament, 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHUKCH. 245 

the defilements of sins are not washed away, like 
the impurity of the skin and the body, in a car- 
nal and secular bath, so that there is need of soap 
and other helps, and of a tub or pool, by which 
the body can be washed and cleansed. In 
another way the breast of the believer is 
washed ; in another way the mind of man is 
cleansed, through the merits of faith. In the 
saving sacraments, when necessity requires, and 
God bestows his own indulgence. Divine com- 
pends^^ i, ^., abridgements of form, ' confer the 
whole benefit upon believers.^ Nor ought it to 
trouble any one that the sick are ' sprinlded or 
poured upon, since they attain the grace of the 
Lord, for the Holy Scripture says, by the prophet 
Ezekiel, (ch. 36: 28) ''Then will I sprinkle 
clean water upon you," etc. And again, (Numb. 
19: 13, 20), ''That soul shall be cut off because 
the water of separation was not sprinkled upon 
him; he shall be unclean." And again, (Numb. 
8: 7), "Sprinkle water of purifying upon them." 
And again, (Numb. 19: 9), " The water of sepa- 
ration is a purification from sin." Hence it 

APPEARS THAT SPRINKLING OF WATER ALSO 



1 In sacramentis i^ alutaribus, necessitate cogente, ct Deo indulgentiam 
suam largiente, totum credentibus conferunt divina compendia. . 



246 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

HATH LIKE FORCE WITH THE SAVING BATH; 

and when these things are done in the church, 
where there is a sound faith both of the receiver 
and the administrator, all is valid, and may be 
consummated and perfected by the authority of 
the Lord, and the truth of faith. '^ 

'' Observe here, that Cyprian and his council 
do not put this shorter mode upon any ground of 
human authority, as if it was an attempt to dis- 
pense with a positive law of Christ. On the 
contrary, he expressly speaks of it as taking 
place under divine sanction. It is because ' God 
bestows Ms own indulgence ' ; the briefer ceremo- 
nies are ' divine compendsJ^ Certainly, this is all 
that was or could have been claimed for the 
fuller form. In a word, both were, in his view, 
clothed with the same authority, and were equally 
vahd. 

" The baptism of the sick in such circum- 
stances was called clinic baptism, from Mine^ a 
couch. Eusebius mentions a person named Nov- 
atian, who, being sick and near to death, as was 
supposed, was baptized on his bed. by affusion, 



lUnde apparet aspersionem quoque aquae in star salutaris lava- 
cri obtiuere, et quando haec in ecclesia fiunt, ubi sit et accipientis et 
dantis fides intep^ra, stare omnia, et consummari ac perfici posse majes- 
tate Domini et fidei veritate. 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 247 

but afterwards recovered and was ordained to the 
ministry." 

'' But you are aware, uncle," said Joseph, 
"- that the Fathers did not call this a proper bap- 
tism, but only a substitute for baptism. In this 
case of Novatian, it was called perichism^ from 
peri^ around, and cheo^ to pour, because the water 
was poured around him in his bed." 

'' But listen again to Cyprian," said Mr. Stan- 
ley, " and see whether he regarded this as only a 
substitute for baptism. ' Some say of those who 
have attained the grace of Christ by the saving 
water and lawful faith, that they are not Chris- 
tians but clinics.^ Such persons he reproves, say- 
ing, ' If any one supposes they have received 
nothing, because they have only been poured 
upon — perfusi — with the saving water, and are 
destitute and empty still, let them not be so mis- 
taken as to be rebaptized should they recover 
from their illness and get well. If they must not 
be rebaptized who have once been consecrated by 
canonical baptism, why should they be made to 
distrust their own faith and the favor of the 
Lord ? If they have attained divine grace, so as 
to be acknowledged as Christians, though by a 
shorter and smaller measure of the divine gift 



248 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

and of the Holy Spirit, are they not, neverthe- 
less, to be esteemed equal to others ? ' 

'' This decision of Cyprian and his associates 
was accepted by the whole church, and became 
the recognized practice for many ages. Theolo- 
gians, historians, councils, and liturgies, refer to 
it and sanction it. ' The references to baptism 
of the sick,' says Chrystal,^ ' are quite frequent 
after his time. Such baptism the church viewed 
as valid, without, so far as I have been able to 
discover, a single dissentient voice, until the 
seventeenth century.' " p. 171. 

'' But it was permitted only in cases of neces- 
sity^ I think you observed," said Joseph. 

" Yes ; it was not the regular mode for others, 
and yet, in all cases, it was admitted to be 
valid." 

'' What was the distinction," asked Nellie, 
" between regularity and validity? " 

'^ To be regular was to bein the prescribed form^ 
according to the decrees of the church ; to be 
valid was to have the essence of the rite^ that 
which made it a real though informal baptism. 



1 " History of the Modes of Christian Baptism, by Rev. James 
Chrystal," ^ very valuable work on that subject. 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHUKCH. 249 

or, in accordance with the views of those times, 
to be actually effective to salvation." 

" Do the Baptists, Cousin Joseph, at the pres- 
ent day, practice clinic baptism ? " asked Arthur. 

" I think not. I have, never heard that they 
do so, in any circumstances." 

" Joseph is right," said Mr. Stanley. " I have 
it from a friend, an excellent Baptist minister, 
who says, ' In no case whatever, does our denom- 
ination practice clinic baptism. I know of no- 
instance of the kind in this country or abroad. 
Baptism with us is not a saving ordinance, and if 
a proper subject for baptism as to his faith can- 
not receive the ordinance on account of physical 
disability, he does well as to his purpose in heart 
therefor, and is accepted of God.' " 

'-'- Both in theory and practice then," said 
Mary, ''the early — nay, the universal church, 
differed totally from the modern Baptists. These 
do not baptize the sick, nor admit that sprinkling 
or pouring is baptism at all, under any circum- 
stances." 

'' No; and besides, the ancient church did not 
rebaptize any who had received *• the compends,' 
as Cyprian called them ; the Baptists, we know, 
uniformly do. This is another particular in 



250 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

which their practice is condemned by the unani- 
mous voice of Christendom, ancient and modern, 
their own denomination excepted." 

" Was there any thing besides sickness, which 
was allowed as being within the rule of neces- 
sity ? " asked Nellie. 

'' Oh yes ; many things. Indeed, the rule was 
in some instances, interpreted in a very liberal 
way. Among these were, 1. The absence of a 
sufficient supply of water. The historian Nicepho- 
rus, in the ' Magdeburg Centuries,' relates that a 
Jew, in the second century, traveling through a 
desert in company with some Christians, was 
converted, and being taken sick requested bap- 
tism. Having no water, they sprinlded — eon- 
spersere — him with sand, in the name of the 
Trinity. He unexpectedly recovered and was 
taken to Alexandria, where his case was laid be- 
fore the Greek bishop, who decided that the bap- 
tism was valid, provided only that he should 
anew be perfused or sprinkled with water. Mil- 
ler, p. 81. — 2. Confinement in prison. Five mar- 
tyrs of Samosata are mentioned, who sent from 
the prison, where they were awaiting execution, 
for a presbyter to bring a vessel of water and 
baptize them.^ In the third century, Laurentius, 

1 Fairchilcl on Baptism, p. 106. 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 251 

a Roman deacon, was brought to the stake to 
suffer martyrdom, when one of the soldiers was 
so impressed that he professed to be converted, 
and desired to be baptized on the spot. For this 
purpose, a pitcher of water was brought — urceo al- 
lata — and the soldier was baptized by the martyr 
at the place of execution.^ — 3. When the candi- 
date was too large^ or the baptistery too small. ' It 
ought to be noted ' says Strabo, (sixth century), 
' that many have been baptized not only by im- 
mersion but by pouring, and so it can still be 
performed if there be necessity, as we read in the 
passion of St. Laurentius, that one was baptized 
from a pitcher which had been brought in. This 
even oisually happens when the large size of the 
bodies of the more mature, and the small size of 
the vessel which serves as a font, renders it im- 
possible that they should be immersed.' De. 
Reb. Eccl. 26. So, too. Duns Scotus, the meta- 
physical theologian of the 13th century, says, ' A 
minister may be excused from trine immersion ; 
for example, in case he should be feeble as to 
strength, and there should be a huge country fel- 
low — et sit unus magnus rusticus — to be baptized, 
whom he could neither plunge in nor lift out.' 
Am. Bib. Rep. 3. p. 379. 



1 Wall's Hist. See also p. 259. 



252 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" These instances are sufficient to show the 
principles which guided the usage of the times. 
The triple, nude immersion was regular, and by 
custom and canon law required in ordinary cases ; 
but when impracticable, dangerous, or inconve- 
nient, the ' compends ' were permitted, and their 
vahdity as true baptism fully recognized." 

" You have spoken," said Joseph, " of the an- 
cient baptisteries used in the church. Some of 
these, you are aware, are preserved to this day, 
and show for themselves that they were of suffi- 
cient size to allow of the immersion of the largest 
person." 

" Fonts ^ you mean, I suppose. The baptistery 
was properly the edifice, usually adjacent to a 
church, in which the font stood ; the font was 
the vessel or receptacle containing the water in 
which the baptism took place. Many fonts were 
large enough to admit of the immersion of an 
adult, and on the other hand, many were so small 
that they would suffice only for that of infants, 
— some even not for that. 

'' The best authenticated representations of the 
ancient modes of baptism are to be found in the 
Catacombs of Rome. In these vast cemeteries, 
dating back to the beginning of the Christian 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHUECH. 253 

era, where rest the noble army of martyrs, con- 
fessors, and saints, who were entombed here dur- 
ing the first four centuries — the period of the 
Pagan persecutions — are found innumerable illus- 
trations of the social and religious life of the 
primitive Christians. From the full and admirable 
work of Withrow^ recently published, I extract 
the following statements in relation to this sub- 
ject : — 

'"The testimony of the Catacombs respecting 
the mode of baptism, as far as it extends, is 
strongly in favor of aspersion or affusion. All 
their pictured representations of the rite indicate 
this mode, for which alone the early fonts seem 
adapted ; nor is there any early art evidence of 
baptismal immersion. It seems incredible, if the 
latter were the original and exclusive mode, of 
apostolic and even Divine authority, that it 
should have left no trace in the earliest and most 
unconscious art-record, and have been supplanted 
therein by a new, unscriptural, and unhistoric 
method. It is apparent, indeed, from the writ- 
ings of the fourth and fifth century, that many 
corrupt and unwarranted usages were introduced 



1 " The Catacombs of Rome, and their Testimony relative to Primi- 
tive Christianity. By Rev. W. H. Withrow, A. m." 



254 



THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 



in connection with this Christian ordinance, that 
greatly marred its beauty and simplicity. It is 
unquestionable that, at that time, baptism by im- 
mersion was practiced with many superstitious 
and unseemly rites. . . But in the evidences of 
the catacombs, which are the testimony of an 
earlier and purer period, there is no indication of 
this mode of baptism, nor of these dramatic ac- 
companiments. The marble font represented in 
the accompanying engraving, now in the crypts 




of St. Prisca, within the walls, is said to have 
come from the catacombs and to have been used 
for baptismal purposes by St. Peter himself; in 




The BAPTigM op Christ as shown in the Catacomb op 
PoNTiANUS.— Page 255. 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 255 

corroboration of which legend, it bears the some- 



what apocryphal inscription SCI. PET. BAPTIS- 
MV. The tradition at least attests its extreme 
antiquity, and its basin is too small for even in- 
fant immersion. 

" ' Other fonts have been found in several of 
the subterranean chapels, among which is one in 
the Catacomb of Pontianus, hewn out of the 
solid tufa, and fed by a living stream. It is 
thirty-six inches long, thirty-two inches wide, 
and forty inches deep, but is seldom near full 
of water. It is obviously too small for immer- 
sion, and was evidently designed for administer- 
ing the rite as shown in the fresco which accom- 
panies it.' (pp. 635-537.) 

" This fresco is upon the wall directly over 
the head of the font. It represents our Lord 
standing naked in the water, while John in his 
camel's hair raiment is upon the bank, with his 
right hand placed upon the Saviour's head, as if 
applying the water thereto. The Holy Spirit 
descends in the form of a dove ; an angel stands 
by as a witness of the rite ; and in the foreground 
a stag, the emblem of a fervent Christian, is 
drinking at the stream. The aureola around the 
heads of these figures indicates, according to 



256 



THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 



Withrow, a date later than that of the font 
itself ; but that it is very ancient cannot be 
doubted. See the engraving opposite. 

" ' In a very ancient crypt of St. Lucina is a 
another partially defaced baptism of Christ attri- 
buted to the second century, in which John 
stands on the shore, and our Saviour in a shallow 
stream, while the Holy Spirit descends as a dove. 
On the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, Christ is 
also symbolically represented as baptized by affu- 
sion. The annexed rude example from the Cata- 
comb of Callixtus, probably of the third century, 
also clearly exhibits the administration of the 
rite by pouring. It is accompanied by a repre- 
sentation of Peter striking water from the rock, 




an eipblem, according to De Rossi, of the waters 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 267 

of baptism sprinkling the sinful souls that come 
thereto. A similar example also occurs in the 
cemetery of St. Prsetextatus.' (p. 539.) 

''Other representations of our Lord's baptism 
are given in ancient mosaics. Here is one, con- 
tained in a church built in A. D. 401 in Cosme- 
din, at Ravenna. John has a bent rod in one 
hand and a patera^ or shell in the other, from 
which he is pouring water on the Saviour's head. 
The figure on the left is a mythological represen- 
tation of the river. 



" A still finer work of the same kind is shown 
in the center piece of the magnificent dome of 
the Baptistery of Ravenna, dating from A. D. 
454. (See the Frontispiece.) Nothing caii show 
more plainly the ancient idea of a river baptism 
than these paintings. 



258 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

'' In this connection, I will cite certain ex- 
pressions of the Fathers, showing what these 
authors regarded as the actual mode of John's 
baptism. They will serve to throw additional 
light upon these pictures. Aurelius Prudentius, 
(born A. D. 848), says, ' He poured water in the 
river,' — perfudit fluvio. Paulinus of Nola (born 
A. D. 353), remarks, 'He — John — washes away 
the sins of believers by the waters poured upon 
them,' — infusis lymphis. Lactantius (died about 
A. D. 330), says, ' Christ received baptism that 
he might save the Gentiles by baptism, that is, 
by the pouring of the purifying dew,' — purifici 
roris perfusione. St Bernard, also, speaking of 
the same event, says, ' The creature pours water 
upon the head of the Creator,' — infundit aquam 
capiti Creatoris creatura,^ ^ 

" The next picture, taken from a piece of 
sculpture at Chigi, near Naples, is believed to be 
a representation of the baptism oi Argilulfus and 
his wife Theodelinda, king and queen of the 
Lombards, converted to Christianity in A. D. 591. 
Mosheim's Ecc. Hist. vol. 2 : p. 385. 

'' I have previously mentioned the baptism of 
a soldier by Laurentius, the Roman martyr, at 



iPond on Baptism. 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 



259 




the time of his execution. The view here given 
of the scene is in the church dedicated to this 
saint at Rome, extra muros, and represents him 
as baptizing by pouring in the regular baptistery. 
The water flows from a jug or vase, of an an- 
tique pattern." 




260 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

"I cannot think," said Joseph, ''that any- 
great weight is to be attached to these pictures. 
They are uncertain both as to date and author- 
ship, and we all know that artists, like poets, use 
great license in their delineations. Even the re- 
nowned Leonardo da Vinci, in his famous fresco 
of the Last Supper, represents our Lord and his 
apostles as sitting at a table after the modern 
fashion, instead of rechning on couches, as they 
undoubtedly did." 

''True," said his uncle, "but there is nothing 
in these pictures, as in that, inconsistent with 
what we know from other sources were the cus- 
toms of the times. In this view, we may receive 
them as a valuable aid in illustrating those cus- 
toms. It is a remarkable fact, as it seems to me, 
that in none of these, or any other ancient works 
of the kind, is there any representation of the 
act of immersion, while nearly all of them do 
show the act of pouring. What is the proper in- 
ference to derive from this fact, I leave for each 
to decide for himself. The fact, certainly, is em- 
inently suggestive. 

" The conclusions, then, to which we are 
brought as to the opinions and usages of the 
early church, — say for the first thousand years 
after Christ, are the following : — 



USAGES OF THE EARLY CHUBCH. 261 

*' 1. The form of baptism, as a sacrament ap- 
pointed for and necessary to the salvation of all 
mankind, must be such as could be administered 
to all. The fountain of baptism, like that of the 
water of life, must be made accessible to every 
one ; the adult believer and the infant of a few 
hours old ; the most robust man and the most 
delicate invalid on the sick or dying bed. There- 
fore, 

'' 2. Sprinkling and affusion, when necessarj^, 
were equally with immersion valid baptism. 
They answered all the essential ends of the ordi- 
nance, and were, if given and received in faith, 
accepted by Christ. 

"3. Infants were baptized as well as adults ; 
indeed, except in the case of conversions from 
among the heathen, this became the usual and 
normal way of the growth of the church. 

" 4. Persons baptized by sprinkling or pour- 
ing, whether in infancy or on the sick bed, were 
not to be rebaptized. Of course, there was no 
denying to them full communion in the churchy 
or the participation of all the rights and privi- 
leges pertaining to any other member. 

'' 5. For ritual reasons, a trine and nude im- 
mersion was preferred and made obligatory by 



262 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

church authority, as the regular mode of baptism 
in all ordinary cases. 

" 6. A single immersion was, except by a 
small portion of the western church, regarded as 
heretical and invalid. Persons who received it 
were not esteemed as baptized at all, and if they 
subsequently sought admission to the church, 
they were received in the same manner as con- 
verted heathens, with all the formalities of a full, 
canonical baptism. 

" 7. The use of baptismal clothing, full or 
partial, in the reception of the rite was unknown, 
and would have been deemed a profanation. 

" Here, then, are seven particulars involved in 
the sentiments and practice of the early church, 
in every one of which the modern Baptists are at 
variance with them. In four out of the seven, 
Pedobaptists are in entire agreement with them." 

The entire party remained silent for a few mo- 
ments at the announcement of this result. At 
length Mary said, 

" This is all new to me. I have often heard 
Baptists boasting that they alone, of all the 
sects, administer baptism after the example of 
the early, and for a long time the universal, 
church; and I supposed it must be so. But 



USAGES OF THE EABLY CHURCH. 263 

surely this does not look like it. They do im- 
merse^ it is true, but with this sole exception they 
do not, so far as I can see, follow ancient usage 
in a single particular; and even this they practice 
in a way which would have branded them as 
heretics, and excluded them from the fellowship 
of all .orthodox Christendom. I should like to 
know. Cousin Joseph, what you have to say to 
such unwarranted pretensions as this." 

" I have nothing to say," he replied, " except 
that it is charitable to hope that those who make 
them are not aware of the facts, as your father 
has now developed them. I confess I was not, 
for one. I saw in the past that one fact only 
of immersion, and I thoughtlessly took it for 
granted that it was just the immersion we now 
practice, neither more nor less ; and as to the 
other matters related, I either did not know of 
them or deemed them irrelevant to the subject. 
I said, at the beginning of the evening, that I 
feared Uncle Charles would again turn one of 
our strongest positioifs against us, and he has 
done so. For the future I will try to make no 
claim in behalf of my denominatioli, which I do 
not know to be founded in fact." 

'' A very sensible conclusion," said Mr. Stan- 



264 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

ley. " Would that we all had the grace to see 
and acknowledge our errors with equal frankness 
and sincerity." 

Miss Ashton made no remark, but it was not 
difl&cult to read in her countenance that she most 
heartily sympathized in the sentiments just ut- 
tered. A solution which she had little expected 
seemed already about opening for the difficulties 
which had surrounded her, and she was glad and 
grateful. 



USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 265 



CHAPTER VII. 

USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 

T7"0U gave us," said Arthur Stanley to his 
J- father when they next assembled, '' an ac- 
count of the practices of the early church, in 
the administration of baptism, down to about the 
tenth century. I should like, for one, to have 
the survey extended over the succeeding period 
to the present time. For, although the existing 
usages of the church are no certain guide to the 
interpretation of the Scriptures, still they are 
valuable as stating what is the judgment of Chris- 
tians generally upon the subject." 

''And another thing," said Mary, ''will also 
come into the account, and that is tho. rise of the 
Baptists as a distinct denomination. It strikes 
me that the very fact that they are such, shows 
that, at the time of their origin, the practice and 
sentiments of Christendom must have been ad- 



266 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

verse to their views, else why a separation at 
all?" 

" Such was undoubtedly the case," said Mr. 
Stanley. " At the time of the Reformation, the 
Western or Latin Church had generally adopted 
the simpler mode of administering this rite by 
affusion. We have seen already that from the 
first the ' divine compends,' as Cyprian called 
them, were allowed in cases of sickness or other 
necessity, and that these were always reckoned, 
in all the churches East and West, as valid bap- 
tism. The minds of men were thus familiarized 
with this form, and its greater convenience, 
decency, and healthfulness can not fail to have 
won for it increasing favor. Strabo, as we have 
seen, in the sixth century, says, that ' many have 
been ' so baptized, and that it ' usually happens ' 
when the size of the font is disproportioned to 
that of the person to be baptized. The famous 
Thomas Aquinas, the ' Angelical Doctor ' of the 
schoolmen, (about A. D. 1255), defended the 
use of the [ compends ' not only as a matter of 
necessity, but as founded in the New Testament, 
reasoning, as we are wont to do, that the baptism 
of the three thousand converts on the day of 
pentecost must have been in this method. He 



USAGES OF THE MODERISr CflURCH. 267 

adds, however, ' It is safer to baptize by immer- 
sion, because this is the more common use'. His 
great contemporary, also, Bonaventura, the ' Se- 
raphic Doctor,' wrote : ' The way of affusion is 
common in France and other places, and was 
probably used by the apostles ; but the way of 
dipping is more general.' (Lib. 4. 3. 2.) The 
Council of Ravenna (A. D. 1311) puts immersion 
and sprinkling on the same footing. ' Baptism is 
to be administered by trine aspersion or immer- 
sion.' 

'' The Synod of Anglers, (A. D. 1275), speats 
of pouring and dipping as indifferently used, and 
blames some ignorant priests because they dipped 
or poured on water but once. The Synod of 
Lyons in 1287 decreed, ' That danger of baptism 
may be avoided, let not the head of the child be 
immersed in water, but let the priest pour water 
three times upon the head of the child, with a 
basin or some other clean and decent vessel, still 
holding the child carefully with his hand '.^ The 
Synod of Cambray^ in 1300, and of Langres^ 
1404, enacted similar rules. The council of 
Cologne in 1636 say, ' The child is either dipped 



1 Bib. Rep. vol. 3: p. 373. 2ib. SMiller, p. 96. 



268 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

or wetted with water.' Fifteen years afterwards, 
in the Agenda of the church of Mentz, pubhshed 
by Sebastian, there is found the following direc- 
tions : ' Then let the priest take the child on his 
left arm, and, holding him over the font, let him, 
with his right hand, three several times take 
water out of the font, and pour it on the child's 
head, so that the water may wet its head and 
shoulders.' ' Then they give a note to this pur- 
pose, that immersion, once or thrice, or pouring 
of water may be used, and have been used in the 
church ; that this variety does not alter the na- 
ture of baptism ; and that a man would do ill to 
break the custom of the church for either of 
them. But they add it is better, if the church 
will allow, to use pouring on of water. ' For 
suppose,' say they, 'the priest be old and feeble, 
or have the palsy in his hands ; or the weather 
be very cold ; or the child be very infirm, or too 
big to be dipped in the font ; then it is much 
fitter to use affusion of the water.' Then they 
bring the instance of the apostles baptizing three 
thousand at a time, and the instance of Lauren- 
tius, the Roman deacon, and add, ' That, there- 
fore, there may not be one way for the sick, and 
another for the healthy ; one for children, and 



USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 269 

another for bigger persons ; it is better that the 
administrator of this sacrament do observe the 
safest way, which is to pour water thrice, unless 
the custom be to the contrary.'^ 

" The Council of Trent (A. D. 1545-1563) in 
its catechism enumerates ' three ways of admin- 
istering baptism,' viz., immersion, affusion, and 
aspersion, and says, ' Whichever of these rites be 
observed, we must believe that baptism is rightly 
administered; for in baptism, water is used to 
signify the spiritual ablution which it accom- 
plishes. Hence baptism is called by the apostle, 
a laver^ (Titus 3 : 5, Eph. 5 : 26) but ablution is 
not more really accomplished by the immersion 
of any one in water, which was long observed 
from the earliest times of the church, than by 
the effusion thereof, which we now perceive to 
be the general practice, or aspersion, the manner 
in which, there is reason to believe, Peter admin- 
istered baptism, when, on one day, he converted 
and baptized three thousand persons.' " 

'' You have remarked," said Joseph Mason, 
"- th^t this departure from the ancient canonical 
practice probably arose from an impresssion of 
the superior convenience, decency, and healthful- 

1 MiUer pp. 96, 97: 



270 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

ness of the compendious form. Is there any pos- 
itive evidence of that fact ? " 

" Yes, — not in formal statements, perhaps, but 
in incidental allusions to the subject, which are 
no less decisive. In a council held in Florence 
in 1439, a dispute arose between two ecclesiastics, 
one in behalf of the Greek Church, and the other 
of the Roman, in which the latter defends his 
church from the charge of innovation. ' We do 
not,' says he, ' immerse the infants' heads ; for 
we cannot teach them to hold the breath, nor can 
we prevent the water from going through their 
ears, nor can we close their mouths. But we so 
put them into the font as to omit nothing which 
is really necessary for the carrying out of the 
tradition, the laver being a sort of image of the 
womb, and by this image of the womb setting 
forth the regeneration. And lest the head, 
which is the seat of all the senses and the 
vehicle of the soul, may be without holy baptism, 
we take up water, in the hollow of the hand, out 
of the sacred font, and pour it over, etc. For, 
when a tyrant charged it upon St. ApoUonius, 
as a reproach, that he had not been washed in 
baptism, and that, therefore, he was not a Chris- 
tian, God, in kindness, heard the saint's prayers, 



USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 271 

and satisfied his desires. For a cloud being sent 
down from above, bathed his head in dew. If, 
therefore, pouring upon the head be not baptism, 
it would not have been so done, but in some 
other way.' (Harduin, Cone. ix. p. 620.) The 
reason here assigned for pouring is to avoid the 
danger of suffocating the child, a danger which, 
in the case of those young and tender, would be 
very serious, from the trine immersion. A Greek 
writer of our own day, in a work entitled ' Ortho- 
doxie et Papisme,' thus inveighs against a Catho- 
lic author who objected to the former practice : 
' It is thus that the notorious apostate, Arcudius, 
in blaming the baptism, by immersion, of the 
Orthodox [Greek] Church, terms it offensive, in- 
decent, and abominable, and pushes calumny so 
far as to accuse the Greek priests of infanticide, 
asserting that they drown infants.' Dr. Wall, in 
his History of Infant Baptism, makes the follow- 
ing statement as to the practice of the Church of 
England. He is speaking of the time of Queen 
Elizabeth. ' The latitude given in the Liturgy — 
[referring to the use of the ' compends '] , which 
could have had but little effect in the short time 
of King Edward's reign, might, during the long 
reign of this queen, produce an alteration pro- 



272 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

portionably greater. It being allowed to weak 
children, though strong enough to be brought to 
church, to be baptized by affusion, many fond 
ladies and gentlewomen first, and then, by de- 
grees, the common people would obtain the favor 
of the priest to have their children pass for weak 
children, too tender to endure dipping in the 
water,' especially, as Mr. Walker observes, 'if 
some instance really were, or were but fancied 
and framed, of some child's taking cold, or being 
otherwise prejudiced by its being dipped.' Part 
2. ch. 9. 

'' These citations are sufficient to show the 
feehngs which were extensively entertained on 
this subject, — feelings which would naturally in- 
crease in strength with the general increase of 
knowledge and refinement, and especially with 
clearer views of Christianity as a spiritual reli- 
gion, and of all rites and forms as only symbols 
of truth, and not saving ordinances of them- 
selves. For why, it would naturally be asked, if 
pouring and sprinkling are valid baptism, as all 
the church believes, should we cling to immer- 
sion, a method, as then practiced, so cumbrous, 
so dangerous to health, and so offensive to mod- 
esty and Christian decorum ? These feelings 



USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 273 

found expression from time to time, as we have 
seen, in the writings of theologians and ecclesias- 
tics, and the decisions of local councils, until 
they were finally embodied in the enactments of 
the Council of Trent, by which sprinkling and 
pouring, equally with immersion, were fixed as 
the canonical usage of the Catholic church." 

'' What were the views of the Reformers on 
this subject ? " inquired Miss Ashton. 

" They did not differ essentially from those of 
the Catholics, but rather, with the clearer light 
which the Scriptures shed on all outward rites, 
they were confirmed in the sufficiency of the 
simpler forms of administration. Luther ad- 
mitted that the etymological import of the word 
baptism was immersion, but said that that mode 
had mostly gone out of use, and gave the sanc- 
tion of his own practice to the other modes. In 
his translation of the Scriptures, he used the 
word taufen for baptizo, connecting it with mit 
wasser^ that is, with^ not in water. In Mark 
7 : 4, he renders baptizo by waschen to wash. 
Taufen is used solely of the rite of baptism, 
which the Lutherans perform by sprinkling. Its 
signification, as given in the German Lexicons, is, 
' To initiate into the church by the sacrament of 
baptism, to baptize, to christen.' 



274 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" Calvin made a similar acknowledgment as to 
the primary meaning of the word, but held ex- 
pressly that, as a Christian ordinance, the form 
of baptism is not essential. ' The difference is 
of no moment whether he that is baptized be 
dipped all over, and if so, whether thrice or 
once, or whether he be only wetted with the 
water poured on him.' He drew up, also, for the 
use of his church at Geneva, and afterward pub- 
lished to the world, a form of adniinistering the 
sacraments, where, when he comes to order thfe 
act of baptizing, he words it thus : ' Then the 
minister pours water upon the infant, saying, " I 
baptize thee," etc. ^— Wall. Part 2. 

'^ T.urretin says, 'Baptism, viewed as a cere- 
mony, consists in washing, which is done by 
water, (1 Pet. 3 : 21) either by sprinkKng or im- 
mersion. As sprinkling is by no means repug- 
nant to the institution of Christ, so it can be 
shown by examples that the apostolic and primi- 
tive church practiced it.' The churches of Eng- 
land and Scotland recognize both modes as 
proper, but in practice, they perform immersion 
very rarely." 

"Is it not a fact," said Joseph, ''that the 
Westminster Assembly of Divines decided in 



USAGES OF THE MODEEK CHURCH. 275 

favor of allowing baptism by sprinkling, by a 
majority of only one vote ? " 

''No ; it is not a fact. The question as to the 
mode of baptism was not before the Assembly at 
all. It was a question as to the ' Directory of 
Pubhc Worship.' The committee appointed to 
prepare this had, in their report, used this lan- 
guage, ' It is lawful and sufficient to sprinkle the 
child.' To this, Dr. Lightfoot and others ob- 
jected, not because he doubted of the entire 
sufficiency of sprinkling, for he decidedly pre- 
ferred it to immersion, but because he thought 
there was an impropriety in pronouncing that 
mode lawful only, when no one present had any 
doubts as to its being so, and almost all preferred 
it. Others seemed to think that by saying noth- 
ing about dipping, that mode was meant to be 
excluded, as not a lawful mode. This Hiej did 
not wish to pronounce. When, therefore, it was 
put to the vote, as reported, there were twenty- 
five votes in favor and twenty-four against it. 
The real question, therefore, as Dr. Lightfoot 
himself says, was, ' sprinkling being granted, 
whether dipping should be tolerated with it.' 
This vote was * afterward reconsidered, and in- 
stead of the expression as first reported, the fol- 



276 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

lowing was adopted : ' He is to baptize the child 
with water, which, for the manner of doing it, is 
not only lawful, but sufficient and most expedi- 
ent to be by pouring or sprinkling of the water 
on the face of the child, without adding any 
other ceremony.' "^ 

'' The Oriental Churches," said Joseph, '' re- 
tain, I believe, the ancient practice unchanged." 

" The Greek Church does, baptizing by a 
triple immersion, in a state of nudity, with the 
ceremonies of exorcism, insufflation, the use of 
oil, etc. At the same time, the ' compends ' in 
cases of necessity are admitted as valid. 

" Mr. ChrystaP quotes the testimony of Asse- 
man and Goar, as follows : ' The Greeks generally 
baptize by pouring thrice a large quantity of 
warm water (by which, according to a canon of a 
provincial Synod, under Germanus, Archbishop 
of Amathus, the fervor of baptism is signified,) 
upon the head. The child sits in a vessel or 
deep laver, up to its shoulders, while they wash 
it, or, lest it should be overwhelmed by the abun- 
dance of the water, or should drink too much, 
the priest places it, lying down and sustained 



1 Miller p. 120. 

2 History of the Modes of Baptism, p. 165. 



USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 2 m 

by the priest's left hand, upon its stomach, 
and then he purifies its head and whole body 
with the saving waters.' Upon this statement 
Mr. C. observes, ' Now, while* it may be doubted 
whether this remark was true even at the period 
when made (1749) of the " Orthodox " Greeks 
in the sense which it conveys, ^. e. " generally," 
(plerumque), nevertheless it is clear that some- 
times the Greeks, even those of Constantinople 
and the Patriarchates, who are now much stricter 
in their requirement of trine immersion of West- 
erns passing to them than the Russians, did at 
that time receive the Latins or others who had 
been baptized only by affusion or aspersion, 
without immersion, and as validly, though it 
might be irregularly, baptized, and they them- 
selves, in case of necessity, and often perhaps, 
even when none existed, did use the compends 
and do even now in that case.' 

'' ' The whole Greek and Russian communion, 
for a long time, up to 1756, did receive Western 
baptism as valid. Since then, the Greeks have 
rejected it ; but it should be remembered that 
they esteem all not of their own creed as heretics, 
so that this may have added some little weight 
with them in their decision, even if a main reason 



278 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

were its lack of trine immersion. Indeed, more 
or less from the days of Michael Cerularius, in 
the eleventh century, until 1756, the whole 
Orthodox church, Greek and Russian, had, at 
times, admitted Western baptisms performed by 
the compends and without necessity, as valid. 
At Florence, (a. d. 1439), Gregory, the Greek 
monk, rejoins to Mark of Ephesus, that he 
(Mark), had never seen Latins baptized by 
Greeks. These facts (and the above remark, so 
far as it applies) show that, like other parts of 
the church, they have not always acted regularly 
and rubrically. Since the period when this was 
written, the rule in favor of trine immersion has 
been more insisted upon in the Patriarchates. 
In Russia, however, which includes the great 
bulk of this communion, the baptism of Latins, 
Lutherans, and Calvinists is admitted.' 

" Passing further to the East, we find the 
Armenian Church enjoining both sprinkling and 
immersion in their mode of baptism. Their 
ritual directs, — ' He is to place the infant in the 
font, and is to apply some of the same water 
with his hand upon its head, and is to say thrice, 
N. is baptized, &c. But while saying these 
words the priest shall thrice immerse the candi- 



USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 279 

date, burying thrice in the water the guilt of 
original sin,' etc.^ 

" The Ritual, of the Syrians, at Antioch, pre- 
scribes : ' And he shall let down the child into 
the baptistery, with its face turned toward the 
East, and shall place his right hand upon its 
head, and with his left shall take up water, say- 
ing, ''N. is baptized," etc. And he shall raise it 
out of the water. '^ 

"The office of the Syrian Church of Jerusa- 
lem directs : ' Then shall he let him down into 
the baptistery, the face of the person to be bap- 
tized being turned toward the East, but the 
priest's toward the West. And the priest shall 
place his right hand upon the head of the per- 
son to be baptized, and shall take up some of 
the water which is in front of the person to be 
baptized, with his left hand, and shall pour it on 
his head. In the same manner, he shall take up 
some of the water which is behind the candidate, 
and shall pour it upon his head. Finally, he ^ 
shall take some of the water from the right and 
left sides of the candidate, and shall pour it on 
his head. And he shall wash his whole body. 
The priest shall not remove his right hand, nor 



iChiystal p. 122 2 ib. p. 123. 



280 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

shall he place his left hand on the head of the 
person to be baptized, as ignorant priests do ; but 
his right hand remaining on the head of the 
child, he shall take up the water with his left, for 
it is written, John placed his right hand only on 
the head of our Lord.^ But when the child has 
been let down into the laver the priest shall say 
thus, ' Such a one is baptized,' etc.^ 

" The Ritual of the Syrian Maronites is nearly 
identical in its directions for the performance of 
baptism with the one just given. ^ The custom 
of the Nestorians, also, appears to be the same. 
When Mar Yohanan, the Nestorian bishop, was 
in this country in 1842, he stated to Dr. Duca- 
chet of Philadelphia, who relates it, that they 
baptized children by putting them in the font, in 
a sitting posture, up to the breast in water, 
facing the East, and then pouring water on them 
in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 
He stated also, ' Such is the kind of baptism 
practiced ^jll over the East at all periods; ' also 
that so universal was the baptism of infants that 
he had never seen an adult baptized '^ 



iSee this attitude illustrated in the representation of Christ's bap- 
tism given on p. 256. 

2Chrystal, p. 124. SR). p. 129. 

4Hodges " Baptism Tested," p. 389. 



USAGES OF THE MODEKN CHURCH. 281 

" Rev. Mr. Newell, one of our first missiona- 
ries to India, visited the Syrian Christians of 
Malabar, in 1814. He says 'I made particular in- 
quiries respecting the mode of baptism in the 
Syrian church, I found it was affusion.'^ This 
East India church is very ancient. It claims to 
have been planted by the apostle Thomas, and as 
early as the fourth century, the missionary, The- 
ophilus, found churches there.^ Their liturgy 
and rites were doubtless derived from sources in- 
dependent of all the churches in the West. 

'' On the whole, then, it appears that the prac- 
tice of the Baptists in respect to the mode of 
baptism, and the treatment of those who adopt a 
different mode, is as opposed to the usages of the 
universal church beside, at the present day and 
for the last eight hundred years, as it was during 
the thousand preceding years. None of the 
great historic churches, east or west, sanctions 
it, none of their sister Protestant denominations 
agrees with it. By their own act they have cut 
themselves off from the communion of all Chris- 
tendom beside. They have carried out to their 
logical results the declarations of Dr. S. F. 



^Taylor's Ap. Bap. p. 176. 
2Neaiider, Ch. Hist. p. 48. 



282 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Smith, before quoted, that ' the Baptist church is 
the only church of Christ on earth. It is not a 
schism, but every other body professing to be a 
church, is a schism.' " 

'' Where then, father, was the church of 
Christ, I should like to know, before the Baptist 
church originated, some three hundred years 
ago ? " said Mary. 

''A question you may well ask," replied her 
father. '' Taking the Baptists' fundamental prin- 
ciples, that only those immersed in adult years 
are really baptized persons, and that only bap- 
tized persons are members of the church and en- 
titled to the Lord's Supper, and we are obliged 
to say that three and a half centuries ago 
there was not a church of Christ on earthy and had 
not been for more than a thousand years ! " 

'^ Oh, brother Charles, how can you say that ! " 
exclaimed Mrs. Mason. " Christ has always had 
a church on earth ever since he ascended up to 
heaven, accprding to his promise, that the gates 
of hell should not prevail against it." 

'' Nevertheless, my statement is trrfe, if Bap- 
tists' principles are true. For, certainly, organi- 
zations of such only as are now. admitted to your 
churches did not for more than ten centuries 
exist on earth." 



USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 283 

" But," said Joseph, '' have there not been in 
every age some who dissented from the current 
faith, — heretics they may have been called, yet 
only because they were such dissenters, — holding 
essentially the opinions taught by the modern 
Baptists. They have been known under various 
names, as Donatists, Novatianists, Paulicians, 
Cathari, Albigenses, etc." 

" Such sects there have been, undoubtedly, 
but down to the twelfth century there was not 
one which did not hold to and practice infant 
baptism. Of course, these were not, on Baptist 
principles, true churches. I will not now go into 
the detailed proof of a fact well known to every 
student of ecclesiastical history. A single state- 
ment from the learned Dr. Wall will be suffi- 
cient. 

'' Irenseus, Epiphanius, Philastrius, St Austin, 
[Augustine] and Theodoret, who wrote each of 
them catalogues of all the sects and sorts of 
Christians that they knew or had ever heard of, 
do none of them mention any that denied infant 
baptism except those who denied all baptism. 
They do, indeed, mention some sects that used 
no baptism at all. St. Austin observes, they 
were all of them such as disowned the Scripture 



284 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

or a great part thereof. But my meaning is 
that, of all the sects that owned any water bap-i 
tism at all, they mention none that denied it to 
infants.' Then, after rapidly surveying the 
authors of the following centuries, and especially 
of those who had written on the heresies of those 
times. Dr. Wall sums up as follows. ' That I 
may tell the reader in short the substauce of the 
places to which I have referred him, they do all 
speak of infant baptism as of a thing taken for 
granted, and those that do at all enlarge on the 
matter, do speak of it as absolutely necessary to 
the infants' obtaining the kingdom of heaven. 
And this, whether they be of the predestinarian 
or semipelagian opinion. And I am confident 
there is no passage in any author, from this time 
to the year of Christ 1150, or thereabouts, that 
speaks against it.' " 

" At that time, then, it appears," remarked 
Arthur, " that there was not, according to Bap- 
tist principles, a Christian church on earth. 
Every ' so called church ' baptized infants, which 
was no baptism, and bodies so constituted were 
still unbaptized persons, and of course no 
churches. What happened then at that date? 
Was there a reinstitution of the lost church of 



USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 285 

Christ, and a new gift of the sacrament from its 
divine author? "' 

" Oh, no. The event referred to, doubtless, 
was the appearance of a man named Peter de 
Bruys, an Albigensian, who was the first person, 
so far as we know, that publicly opposed infant 
baptism, while retaining adult baptism. The 
date, however, was a few years earlier than that 
mentioned by Dr. Wall, say from 1110 to 1130. 
His followers were called Petrobrussians. They 
spread throughout Switzerland and Germany, 
and subdivided into several sects, among whom 
were the fanatical Anabaptists, who, in the time 
of Luther, committed such excesses in Germany, 
and after filling the land with the horrors of 
rapine and war were finally subdued by force of 
arms. Of the same source were the Mennonites, 
a much more respectable body of Christians, who 
continue to the present day, having a consider- 
able number of churches both in Europe and in 
our own countrj'i But though these followers of 
De Bruys discarded infant baptism, there is no 
evidence that they differed from the Catholic 
church generally as to the mode of baptism, 
which, as we have before seen, was at this time 



286 THE MODE OF BAPTISM, 

mostly performed by pouring or sprinkling, as it 
is universally among the Mennonites at this day.^ 

''So then," said Mary, '' after all, the Menno- 
nites had no true churches. Though they bap- 
tized adults only, yet as they did not immerse 
them, it was no valid baptism. Besides, even if 
it were, how did they get it ? Can persons not 
in the church institute a church ? Can those 
who were never baptized, baptize others? " 

'' Well, that is a problem for the Baptists to 
solve, not us. Menno himself expressly affirmed 
that baptism had been wholly lost. ' Here thou 
hast,' says he, ' the due custom of baptizing in 
Christ's church, which had been obliterated for a 
very long period^ and had j^erished^ but by the most 
ample gift of God hath been restored anew. He 
who reads with Christian judgment, and under- 
stands well, will wish well to this celestial truth 
of Christ, which during so many ages was lost^ but 
is now discovered, and with good cause will he 
return great thanks to God,' " etc.^ 

" Have the Baptists, then, derived their 
churches and baptism from him?" asked Mary. 

" No ; though this is sometimes claimed for 



iChrystal, Mode of Baptism, p. 294. m. p. 301. 



USAGES OF THE MODEEN CHUECH. 287 

tliem. The Mennonites, as I have said, are not 
immersionists, and the Baptists have no fellow- 
ship with them. ' Baptists disown as their spirit- 
ual progenitors,' says Dr. J. M. Peck, 'the Re- 
formers of the 16th century, as they also do the 
pseudo reformers of modern times.' Ch. Review, 
185T, p. 5. - 

'' Where then did they get their church exist- 
ence, and their baptism ? I am curious to know 
how what had been so long extinct was recovered 
again. You say there was no new revelation 
from heaven reinstating it, and the old maxim 
tells us ' ex nihilo nihil fit ' — out of nothing 
nothing comes ; so I don't see how the lost boon 
was restored to men." 

'' We shall see," replied her father, '' their own 
account of it presently. ' The first regular con- 
gregation of English Baptists,' says Mosheim, 
(vol. 3 : p. 473), ' ' appears to have originated 
from certain English Puritans who returned from 
Holland after the death of their pastor, Rev. 
Jolm Smith.' Smith had been an English 
clergyman, but separating from the Anglican 
church, he fled to Holland, where, in 1606, he 
joined Rev. John Robinson's congregation, at 
Amsterdam. Here he embraced Arminianism, 



288 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

renounced pedobaptism, and, at length, with- 
drew from the Congregational church, and with 
some associates formed a new church. Robinson 
himself relates the event thus. (Works III, p. 
168). 'If the church be gathered by baptism, 
then will Mr. Helwisse's appear to all men to be 
built upon the sand, considering the baptism it 
had, and hath, which was, as I have heard from 
themselves^ on this manner : Mr. Smith, Mr. Hel- 
wisse, and the rest, having utterly dissolved and 
disclaimed their former church, state, and minis- 
try, came together to erect a new church by bap- 
tism . . . And after some straining of courtesy who 
should begin, and that of John Baptist, (Matt 3 : 
15), misalleged, Mr. Smith baptized first himself, 
and next Mr. Helwisse, and so the rest, making 
their particular confessions.' Smith died in Ley- 
den in 1610, but Helwisse returned to England, 
and from him the Baptists' views and practice 
spread more or less through that country. 

" ' The Particular, or Calvinistic Baptists trace 
their origin,' says Mosheim, ' to a congregation of 
Independents established in London in the year 
1616. This congregation, having become very 
large, and some of them differing from the others 
on the subject of infant baptism, they agreed to 



USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 289 

divide. Those who disbelieved in infant baptism 
were regularly dismissed in 1633 and formed into 
a new church under Rev. John Spilsbury.' Of 
course the pedobaptist church from which they 
were dismissed, being ' no church,' they had had 
neither baptism nor true church membership, and 
must have created for themselves both, as Smith 
had done. It has been sometimes said that they 
sent persons to Holland to procure and bring to 
them a true baptism, but the statement is with- 
out authority, and altogether improbable,^ for 



1 *•" Crosby {Hist. Eng. Baptists^ i: 102) and others who have disrel- 
ished the notion of deriving the baptismal lineage of their denomina- 
tion from a man who baptized himself, have sought comfort in a theory 
that one company of English Baptists sent over ' one Mr Richard 
Blount, into the Netherlands, who obtained his baptism from some 
Dutch Baptists there,' and so disseminated through England, and after- 
wards through this country, a more genuine and respectable article. 
There are two dilficulties here. In the hrst place, there is no sufficient 
evidence that any Mr. Blount thus went. All the testimony is of the 
most fearfully hear-say character. Mr. Hutchin.-on ' had heard ' the 
Story, and this was ' confirmed ' by an account given by an anonymous 
manuscript, 'said' to be 'written by Mr William Kiffin.' But, grant- 
ing that he did go, and was thus baptized, there is no proof that his 
baptism was by immersion; for, as we have seeii, the Dutch Baptists 
of that time were not immersers ; the fact being that the (JoUegiants, 
as they were called, the followers of the three brothers Van der Codde 
at Khysberg about 1630, seem to have separated from the other Dutch 
Baptists as much on the doctrine of immersion, as on abolishing the 
office of the ministry, so that their rise appears to mark the date of 
immersion as the practice of a portion of professing believers in Hol- 
land. 

" And in the second place, there were plenty of Baptist churches in 



290 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Spilsbury himself elaborately argues the power 
of unbaptized persons to originate baptism for 
themselves.^ 

" The first Baptists in America were Roger 
Williams, and the church which he founded at 
Providence, R. I. Contrary to the popular im- 
pression, V/illiams, at the time of his expulsion 
from Massachusetts, did not profess to be a Bap- 
tist, and therefore was not expelled for being one. 
His offense was that of assailing the validity of 
the Massachusetts charter granted by King James 
I., and ' defaming' the ministers and magistrates 
of the colony. He appears to have been led to 
profess Baptist views by a Mrs. Scott who came 



England long before the date of which Crosbv speaks, whose practice 
as to the mode of baptism was precisely that of the Dutch Mennonites. 
They opposed infant baptism, but they did not immerse. This is 
abundantly proved by existing documents, and notably by a corres- 
pondence carried on by them through a period of years with some of 
the Dutch Mennonites; and it is fully and honorabl}^ conceded by 
Evans (vol. ii: 52). He says, ' There is positive proof, if credit is to 
be given to the testimony of men living at the period, that there were 
communities in exis.tence then, who conformed entirely to the mode 
adopted by our Dutch brethren.' A writer in Mercurius Rusticus (p. 
25) saysTof Chelmsford, England, that the Baptists there practiced both 
ways : ' the one they call the Old Men, or Aspersi, because they were 
but sprinkled; the other they call the New Men, or the Immersi^ be- 
cause they were overwhelmed in their rebaptization. ' " 

Dr. Dexter, in Congregationalist, Jan. 29, 1874. 

1 See the evidence as to the origin of the Baptist church presented in 
full in Chrystal's Mode of Baptism, p. 237, seq. 



USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 291 

to live in his colony.^ The ' History of the First 
JBaptist Church at Providence,' says, ' Mr. Wil- 
hams and those with him considered the impor- 
tance of gospel union, and were desirous of 
forming themselves into a church, but met with 
considerable obstruction. They were convinced 
of the nature and design of believers' baptism by 
immersion, but from a variety of circumstances, 
had hitherto been prevented from submersion. 
To obtain a suitable administrator was a matter 
of consequence. At length, the candidates for 
communion nominated and appointed Ezekiel 
HoUiman, a man of gifts and piety, to baptize 
Mr. Williams, who, in return, baptized Mr. HoU- 
iman and the other ten.' Chrystal, p. 240. 

''Such, then, is the answer to your inquiry 
which the Baptists themselves give as to the ori- 
gin of the existing church of Christ and its sac- 
raments. It began with John Smith, John Spils- 
bury, and Roger Williams. All the regular Bap- 
tist churches now in existence are derived from 
them, and according to our modern Dr. Smith, 
there is no other Christian church on earth." 

'' Well," said Joseph, " do not all Christian 



1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. vi, p. i 



292 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

denominations admit the validity of lay-baptism 
when required by necessity? " 

'' But this was not lay-baptism at all. That is/ 
simply the administration of the sacrament by a 
layman, i, e.^ a private member of the church, in 
distinction from a minister. But, according to 
their own account, neither of these persons was 
even that. Neither was in the church at all. As 
Menno said, it had been obliterated. 

''I ought, in justice, to add that this view of 
the matter is frankly admitted by Baptists them- 
selves, as indeed they are compelled to do by the 
strictest logical necessity. John Smith, as I have 
said, argued stoutly for the validity of his self- 
baptism. ' Now for baptizing a man's self, there 
is as good warrant as for a man's churching him- 
self ; for two men singly are no church, jointly 
they are a church, and they both of them put a 
church upon themselves ; for as both of these per- 
sons unchurched yet have power to assume the 
church, each of them for himself and others in 
communion, so each of them unbaptized hath power 
to assume baptism for himself and others in com- 
munion.' So, too, Crosby, a distinguished Bap- 
tist historian says, ' The greatest number of the 
English Baptists, and the more judicious . . . 



USAGES OF THE MODERK CHURCH. 293 

affirmed and practiced acpordingiy, that, after a 
general corruption of baptism, an unbaptized 
person might warrantably baptize, and so begin a 
reformation.' Chrystal, p. 249. 

''"To all wliich, we may appropriately reply, in 
the quaint language addressed to Mr. Smith at 
the time, by a writer signing himself, ' I. H.," 
' I pray you tell vs one thing. Master Smith ? By 
what rule baptised you your selfe ? What worde 
or example had you for that in all the Scriptures? 
Doe you affirme the baptisme of children to be the 
marke of the Beast, because, you say, there is no 
word nor example in all the Scripture, to proue 
that they may be baptized ; And yet durst you 
presume without either word or example, to bap- 
tize your selfe ? If you go about to proue that 
lawful which you haue done, by any word, or ex- 
ample in the Scripture, I say you cannot set one 
step forward to that purpose, but you must allow 
thereby the baptisme of Children. I marvell you 
did not preuent this objection : which wil be as 
hard a bone for you to gnaw vpon as you thinke 
the baptisme of Children is to vs. It was won- 
der you wold not recieue your baptisme first, 
from some one of the Elders of the Dutch Ana- 
baptists ; but you will be holyer then all, and see 
linw you liaue marred all,' 



294 THE MODE OP BAPTISM. 

" There is another remarkable thing about 
Smith's self-baptism, that ought not to be 
omitted. All the facts connected with it go to 
show that even this was performed hy sprinkling or 
affusion! 'This,' says Dr. H. M. Dexter, 'was 
the manner usual at that time among the Baptists 
of Holland. Frederick Miiller, a Baptist of Am- 
sterdam, and one of the most learned men, in 
some directions, now living in Holland, says : 
''Neither the Waterlanders, nor any other of the 
various parties of the Netherlands' Doopsgezinden 
[Baptists], practiced at any time baptism by im- 
mersion." (Evans's Early English Baptists^ i : 
223.) So that if Smith had started out with any 
new theory of the mode of baptism, it becomes 
inevitable, first, that he would have alluded to, 
and defended it, in some one of his own contro- 
versial works and various efforts at self-defense ; 
and, secondly, that some, at least, passing refer- 
ence should have been made to it by the various 
writers of the time, who discussed him and his 
career.' 

" Smith subsequently was convinced that his 
proceedings were unlawful, and a little before his 
death, he made an acknowledgement of his error, 
in a work entitled ' The last Booke of John Smyth : 



USAGES OF THE MODERN CHURCH. 295 

called the Retractation of his Errours, and the Con- 
firmation of the Truth' In this he says, ' I did 
never acknowledge yet, that it was lawful for 
private persons to baptise, when their were true 
churches and ministers from whence wee might 
have our baptisme without sjmne ; as ther are 40 
witnesses that can testifie : onlie this is It which 
I held, that seeing ther was no church to whome we 
could Joyne with a good conscience to have baptisme 
from them^ therfor wee might baptize ourselves.' — 
Congregationalist, March 5, 1874. 

''Such, then, is the baptism and the church 
origination upon which that denomination stands 
to-day, and from which, in boastful self-confi- 
dence, it pronounces all other churches a 
'schism' and a 'slab.' Such is the rite urged 
upon us, in place of that which has been held to 
be valid in every other church that has existed, 
from the apostolic age to our own. Against such 
a claim, argument, surely, is useless. If the bare 
statement is not enough to refute it, nay, to show 
its amazing assumption, no reasoning could do so. 
Let the instincts of an enlightened Christian un- 
derstanding, and a generous Christian heart, 
judge of it." 



296 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 

THIS must be our last evening of discussion, I 
think," said Mr. Stanley, when they next 
met. " You must all be weary of it, by this 
time, and, in reality, there is not much more that 
I care to say on the subject." 

" Oh, no, uncle, not weary of it," said Joseph, 
'' I assure you. It has been a very interesting 
discussion to me, and I hope as profitable as in- 
teresting." 

'' So we all say, I am sure," added Mary. " I 
should be sorry to leave it, till the whole argu- 
ment is presented. You have not taken up the 
subject of close communion yet, and I should 
like to see what can be said, pro and con, re- 
specting that. It is a very practical subject for 
you. Cousin Joseph, and is likely soon to be Btiil 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 297 

more so," she added, with a significant glance at 
Nellie. 

'' Oh, that is simply a matter of inference from 
the main facts established. If, as Uncle Charles 
has nearly convinced me, immer-sion is not taught 
in the Bible, it cannot be insisted on as one of 
the terms of communion. Still, I should very 
much Uke to hear what he has to advance on that 
subject." 

'' We will proceed then," said Mr. Stanley, 
'' to the only other topics necessary to complete 
our discussion. Hitherto, we have surveyed 
what I may call the Scriptural, the Classic, and 
the Historical Arguments. It remains only to 
present some general considerations growing out 
of the nature of Christianity, which perhaps may 
be designated the rational argument. Nor is this 
an improper argument even in the case of a posi- 
tive institution of the Bible, for it is one which 
both our Lord and his apostles employed. ' How 
think ye ? ' he often asked of his hearers. ' Why, 
even of yourselves, judge ye not what is right? ' 
'I speak unto wise men,' said Paul, 'judge ye 
what I say.' ' Prove all things ; hold fast that 
which is good.' " 

''And you know," remarked Arthur, "that the 



298 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

thing we proposed in the outset was to take ' a 
common sense view ' of the subject." 

" My first remark then is, that, considering 
the nature of Christianity as a revealed system 
of grace and salvation for mankind, it is reason- 
able to assume that its great initiatory rite would 
be such a one as would be practicable for all. 
Immersion, in my view, is not such a one." 

" I suppose you refer to the difficulty of apply- 
ing it to the sick and infirm, — the ancient 
clinici^^^ said Joseph. 

" Yes ; but not to them exclusively. There 
are many conditions of human life and experi- 
ence, in which immersion, as a rule, could not be 
employed. There are desert lands where water 
itself is scarce. Dr. Coan, the veteran mission- 
ary at the Sandwich Islands, says, ' A large por- 
tion of the island of Hawaii is entirely destitute 
of streams, or considerable fountains of water. I 
have often been called to administer baptism to 
the blind, to the lame, to the very aged, to be- 
lievers upon their death-beds, where there was 
no body of water within ten, twenty, sometimes 
thirty miles, large enough to permit the immer- 
sion of the head, much less the whole person. 
Many of these believing candidates could not 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 299 

have been removed to a distant fountain except 
at the cost of life. In every place, however, 
where I found man, I found a little water, often 
only that which had been collected, drop by drop, 
in caves of the mountains ; and with these pre- 
cious drops I sprinkled their bodies, as their 
hearts had been already '' sprinkled from an evil 
conscience " with the infinitely more precious 
drops of the Saviour's blood.' 

"• There are climates, also, of such severity 
that open streams or pools are rarely accessible. 
In Greenland, Lapland, and Siberia, the rivers 
and lakes, in the winter, freeze to the bottom, 
and no water can be had except by melting snow 
and ice. There are seasons of the year, in all 
countries except those within the torrid zone, in 
which the rite cannot safely be administered. It 
is true that, in large and wealthy churches, baptis- 
teries are constructed, where warmed water may 
be used, but this cannot be done generally." 

'' But, Brother Charles, you know that people 
are baptized, in the open air, at all seasons, and 
with perfect safety," said Mrs. Mason. 

" I know it has often been done, and that per- 
sons have often, though not always, apparently 
escaped any evil consequences from it. But this 



300 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

does not affect the truth of my proposition in 
general. Dr. Hall (p. 115) mentions a baptism 
which took place in the winter in the Delaware 
River, when a hole was cut in the ice, in which 
sixty men and women were immersed, the 
weather being so cold that a number of men 
were employed in stirring the water with poles to 
keep it from freezing while the immersion was 
going on." 

" That reminds me," said Arthur, " of what I 
read in the New York Tribune not long since. 
Its correspondent, writing from the Adirondack 
region, protested against the terrible exposures 
there incurred by immersions, following a revival 
during the winter. ' On bitter cold days,' says 
he, ' with the thermometer at zero, the rough 
rivers, hid in thick ice, are bared with axe and 
spade, and the converts, — often young girls of 
tender age, are plunged in. As we see them 
struggling in evident fear and agony, shrinking 
from their water-soaked garments which freeze 
about them, we can but ask if this be imitating 
the blessed Master. Had Christ preached and 
baptized in this climate, would he who healed 
the sick have risked the life of the body to purge 
out the stains of girlhood ? It is one of the in- 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 301 

expressible inconsistencies of weak humanity, 
that followers of the Divine Lord should in his 
name commit cruelties that unbelievers would 
shrink from.' " 

" I agree in those sentiments," said Mr. Stan- 
ley. " The laws of life and health oan no more 
be violated under the plea of obeying Christ, 
than the law of the ten commandments. It is no 
less a presumptuous tempting of God, than 
Christ's leaping from the* pinnacle of the temple 
would have been, under the solicitations of the 
devil. 

" But this argument holds with special force in 
relation to the sick and infirm. We have seen 
how the common sense and Christian feeling of 
the early churches revolted against the bondage 
of ritualism in their day. And such must be 
the dictates of the Christian instinct in all ages. 
Invalids, persons of delicate constitution, the 
sick, and the dying, make together a large aggre- 
gate who at all times need, and are specially en- 
titled to, the consolations of the gospel and its 
ordinances. It is to them emphatically that the 
gospel comes as good news, with its precious 
assurances of the Saviour's sympathy and love. 
Are such to be told when they desire to receive 



302 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

the appointed tokens of that love, that they do 
well to desire it, and doing this they have dis- 
charged all their duty, and must be content with 
that; theit because they are too weak to receive 
them, and beyond even the strong need the 
strength to be derived from them, therefore they 
must not have them ? Is this all the grace 
which the gospel, as represented in the Baptist 
church, has for the sick and dying ? 

'' ' I once,' says a ministerial friend, ' had the 
joy of ministering to such a soul in the last days 
of her earthly life. She was a young woman cut 
down by that scourge of our climate, consump- 
tion. I had, in repeated visits, told her of 
Christ and his salvation, and had the delight of 
seeing her rejoicing in his love. A little before 
she died, she expressed a wish to join the church 
and receive the sacraments he had appointed. 
Her request was granted. As she could not leave 
her bed, the church appointed two of its mem- 
bers to go with the pastor and receive her in its 
name. We assembled in her room on a summer 
Sabbath afternoon. She lay propped upon her 
pillow, her hollow cheek, save for its hectic flush, 
rivaling the sheet in whiteness, Avhile her bright 
eyes beamed with celestial hope and peace. I 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 303 

read and received her assent to the articles of 
faith and the covenant, then, dipping my hand in 
water brought in a white bowl, I applied it to 
her brow in the name of the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost, in token of the higher bap- 
tism of the Spirit which we believed she had re- 
ceived, and sealing her to Christ and to his peo- 
ple forever. Then, breaking the sacramental 
bread and pouring the wine, we knelt around the 
bed and showed forth the Lord's death in sweet 
and grateful remembrance of him. Could I, as a 
minister of his, have refused the delightful ser- 
vice to which I was thus called, and coldly have 
told that dying child that the grace of baptism 
was not for her, because, forsooth, she could not 
go and be plunged into the waters of the neigh- 
boring river ? ' 

" No, Christ has never appointed for mankind 
a rite which the most needy, for whom it was 
appointed, cannot receive. To insist upon it is 
to dishonor the gospel itself ; to bind heavy bur- 
dens and grievous to be borne, and most heavy 
upon the feeblest and least able to bear them."i 



iThe late General Rawlins, Secretary of War, expressed in his last 
moments a strong desire to be baptized. He 2vas baptized on his 
death-bed in the only way it could be done, and professed his faith 
in Christ. Ought he to have been denied this privilege because he was 
unable to be immersed V 



804 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" It is no wonder, I think," said Mary, '' that 
Baptists often speak of baptism as a cross to be 
horm^ and exhort young converts to take up their 
cross, and follow Jesus into the water I " 

" I have here a poem," said Nellie, " which I 

recently cut from a Baptist paper, expressive of 

this idea." 

MY BAPTISM. 

" I stood beside the dreaded waters brink 
And saw a grave ; 
I looked to heaven, and rays of purest light 
Gilded each wave. 

I thought of persecution's sneer and frown, 

The world's proud scorn, 
Then raised my eyes to Him who bore for me 

Earth' s crown of thorn. 

Beneath the sacred waters, solemnly 

I bowed my head, 
And found a couch sweeter and softer far 

Than downy bed. 

* This heavy cross, dear Lord, I bear alone 
For Thee,' I said, 
And lo ! the cross a crown of glory shone 
Upon my head." 

"- This view of baptism, as a cross to be borne, 
is a very common one among our Baptist friends, 
3^et it is wholly unscriptural. Where in all the 
New Testament is such an idea conjoined with 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 305 

this beautiful ordinance ? No man and no 
church has a right to make a cross of that which 
Christ himself hath not made one. As well put 
on sackcloth, or scourge yourself with whips, or 
wear pebbles in your shoes, and call it service to 
the Lord. Do we not hear him asking in indig- 
nant rebuke, 'When ye come to appear before 
me, who hath required this at your hand ? ' 

'^ And this brings me to my second remark 
under this head. It is contrary to the whole 
tenor of Christianity as a spiritual religion, to 
exalt any mere outward rite to the importance 
which is claimed for the mode of baptism. 
Herein Christianity is in direct contrast with the 
ancient law. That prescribed rites and forms. 
It dealt with men as children who could not 
walk alone. It told them not only what to do, 
but how to do it. The tabernacle and all its 
furniture, even to the pins which held its cur- 
tains ; the dress of the priests, with the tints of 
its embroidery, and the graving of its jewels ; the 
victims to be sacrificed, and the treatment of 
every part, whether ' baked in the oven,' or 
dressed in the frying pan, or ' with cakes min- 
gled with oil ; ' the utensils for the service from 
the altars and the laver, to the tongs, and the 



306 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

snuffers ; the material and the mode of every- 
thing were minutely prescribed. No deviation 
in any point was allowed. Mode and form were 
essential. But after almost two thousand years 
of such schooling, it was assumed that the time 
had come for mankind to be men. The gospel, 
accordingly, looks at things not forms. When 
under the force of the old education, or through 
the natural obtuseness of the heart, men clung 
still to the shadow more than the substance, it 
taught them to disregard form altogether. Oh, 
how the Pharisees stood aghast when Jesus 
trampled under his feet their cherished ritualisms 
— not washing his hands before eating ; not keep- 
ing the Sabbath after their fashion; eating and 
drinking with publicans and sinners, and most 
heinous of • all, declaring that Jerusalem was not 
the sole place in which to worship God ! So, too, 
how Paul cut the knot of their endless conten- 
tions about circumcision, and meats, and new 
moons, and Sabbaths, and fast days. ' Be not ' 
said he, ' in bondage to such things. Leave the 
first principles and go on unto perfection. Let 
every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
For meat destroy not thy brother. For neither 
if ye eat are the better, neither if ye eat not are 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 307 

ye the worse. The kingdom of God is not meat 
and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy 
in the Holy Ghost.' 

'^ Such is the spirit of Christianity, free, gra- 
cious, expansive, as the very love from whose in- 
finite bosom it proceeded. And yet, we are told, 
there is one exception. There is one rite en- 
joined upon all men, to be performed in just one 
invariable way, a way which multitudes of men 
cannot obey, and yet so essential that without it 
no obedience is rendered ; and standing, as it 
does, at the door of the church, the church itself 
cannot otherwise be entered ; so that no immer- 
sion, no baptism ; no baptism, no church ; no 
church, no covenanted title to the kingdom of 
heaven ! " 

" But our brethren do not reason thus in re- 
spect to the other sacrament," observed Arthur. 

" No, I will do them the justice to say they 
are, in this, happily inconsistent with themselves. 
Yet, if ritualism were to be allowed to usurp 
either, it might do it with much the greater plau- 
sibility in this case. 'Do this^^ said our Lord, 'in 
remembrance of me.' Now we know much more 
of the way in which the Supper was first ob- 
served, than the first baptism administered. We 



308 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

know that it Avas in an upper room, at night, 
while they were reclining on couches, no females 
being present. We know that the loaf which 
Jesus took into his hands to break was unleav- 
ened, bread, and that the cup was the unfer- 
mented passover wine, — leaven, whether of 
meat or drink, being strictly forbidden in that 
solemn festival. (Ex. 18 : 7.) Why, then, do 
they not insist that we must exactly imitate all 
these things when we come to the table of the 
Lord ? Nay, more, with the exception of John 
and Andrew, (John 1: 35, 40), there is not a 
shadow of evidence that one of the twelve, then 
present, had ever been baptized at all, while 
there is an absolute certainty that not one of 
them had received Christian baptism, for it had 
not then been instituted. Why do they not in- 
sist as strenuously on form here, as in the other 
case, and appeal as confidently to the express 
words of Christ, ' Do this ' ? And I answer, 
because their own good sense revolts from it. 
They know that none of these things can affect 
the spiritual significance or value of the rite ; 
that the Lord can be obeyed, and true commun- 
ion with him and his people enjoyed in it, if only 
the heart be right, however much, or however 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 309 

little conformity be had to the precise mode of 
that first supper in the upper room at Jerusa- 
lem." 

" It has often seemed to me," said Mary, 
/'that if the mode of baptism had been intended 
to be so essential, the command would have been 
given so plainly as not to admit of an honest mis- 
take." 

" I think so too," said her father. " And this 
was what I designed to say in my third remark." 

" But we Baptists contend that it has been 
made such," said Joseph. '' Our teachers tell us 
that the word baptizo has such force, so that the 
command itself, in its own terms, is explicit and 
unmistakable, by all sincere inquirers after 
truth." 

" And yet, they must admit that it has been 
mistaken, if doubt as to the alleged force of that 
word be a mistake. All Christendom, except 
the Baptists, by their own showing, have mis- 
taken it, which is only the same thing as to say 
that the command was not given in the way we 
may presume it would have been, if the alleged 
strictness of obedience in letter and form were 
required. On this point, let me commend to you 
the judicious remarks of the late Archbishop 



310 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Whately, in relation to what he calls, ' Omis- 
sions ' in the Scriptures. His idea is, that these 
omissions show that the inspired writers were 
supernaturally withheld from recording whatever, 
in word or act, was not meant to be authoritative 
over all mankind. 

" ' We seek in vain there,' says he, ' for many 
things which, humanly speaking, we should have 
most surely calculated on finding. No such thing 
is to be found in our Scriptures as a catechism, 
or regular elementary introduction to the Chris- 
tian religion ; nor do they furnish us with any 
thing of the nature of a systematic creed, set of 
articles, confession of faith, or by whatever other 
name one may designate a regular, complete com- 
pendium of Christian doctrines ; nor again do 
they supply us with a liturgy for ordinary public 
worship, or with forms for administering the sacra- 
ments^ or for conferring holy orders ; nor do they 
even give any precise directions as to these and 
other ecclesiastical matters — anything that at 
all corresponds to a rubric or set of canons. 

'''Now these omissions present a complete 
moral demonstration that the apostles and their 
followers must have been supernaturally withheld 
from recording a great part of the institutions, 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMEIsrT. 811 

instructions, and regulations which must, in point 
of fact, have proceeded from them ; withheld on 
purpose that other churches, in other ages and re- 
gions, might not be led to consider themselves 
bound to adhere to several formularies, customs, 
and rules, that were of local and ' temporary 
appointment ; but might be left to their own dis- 
cretion in matters in which it seemed best to 
divine wisdom that they should be so left.'^ 

'' These remarks are eminently sensible, and 
must commend themselves to the judgment of 
all thinking men. Indeed, we may affirm, as 
with the force of an axiom, that what was essen- 
tial to the existence of the church must have 
been declared so plainly that mistake concerning 
it should be impossible." 

'' I cannot resist that conclusion," said Joseph. 
'' That, surely, would be no revelation from God, 
which did not reveal what was essential to the 
very ends for which a revelation was given." 

'' From the word of God, then," said Mr. 
Stanley, ''let us turn to his providence. If the 
rejection of immersion be an error so great as to 
vitiate one of the sacraments, and even extin- 



1 Kingdom of Christ, p. 77. Also Appendix D. p. 258. 



312 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

guish the church itself, (for we are told that 
there is no church on earth but the Baptist 
church) then it were reasonable to say that Crod's 
blessing could not rest upon those who practiced such 
error, ' This,' says Dr. Smith, ' was Christ's 
imperative command,' and ' an apostle would 
have said, if a man refuse exact obedience to 
Christ, he is none of Christ's.' Now we know 
that God heareth not sinners ; of course he will 
withhold his Spirit from those who are thus will- 
fully disobedient. But is it so ? Has he not 
owned the ministry of Calvin, Owen, Baxter, 
Wesley, Whitfield, Scott, Griffin, Alexander, 
Nettleton, Kirk, and the hosts of the non-im- 
mersed who have preached his gospel in all lands, 
and in all the centuries since his ascension ? Has 
he not given his Spirit to render the word 
preached by them effectual to the conversion of 
multitudes? Have not many, inspired by his 
love, gone to the heathen, and, in self-forgetting 
fidelity to him, proclaimed the news of salvation, 
and organized the converts granted to them into 
churches ? Were not these his ministers ? 
Would he have so signally honored their work if 
they were not ? 

^' And where can be found more lovely exhibi- 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 313 

tions of the spirit of Christ than among those 
who belong to these churches? Are not those 
who have been baptized by sprinkling or pouring, 
as holy, as spiritual, as exemplary in life and con- 
versation, as those who have been immersed ? 
, Are they not as prayerful, as self-denying, as' 
fruitful in all good works and all Christian 
enterprises ? Have they not as much of the 
spirit of missions, and are they not as liberal in 
sustaining those whom they have sent forth ? If 
the test which the apostle applies to himself in 
writing to the Corinthians be the true one, ' The 
seal of my apostleship are ye in the Lord,' then 
are these ministers the ministers of Christ, and 
these churches are his churches." 

'' Of course we acknowledge the piety and 
benevolence of Christians of other denomina- 
tions," said Mrs. Mason. '' We think they are 
in error as to baptism, but we do not pretend 
that it is an error fatal to piety itself or inconsis- 
tent with the enjoyment of God's blessing." 

" Yet Uttle short of this is implied in the lan- 
guage of Dr. Smith. ' An apostle would have 
said, if a man refuse exact obedience to Christ,' 
— and he means in reference to this matter, — 
'he is none of Christ's,^ What more could he 
say of a profane man or an infidel ? 



814 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

''And this brings ns to the only remaining 
consideration which I wish now to adduce, and 
that is the unhappy practical consequences which 
flow from the position and sentiments of our 
Baptist brethren. 

" These consequences are manifold. It pains 
me greatly to refer to them, yet justice to our 
subject forbids tliat they should be wholly 
omitted." 

" I hope, uncle, you will speak freely just what 
you think," said Joseph. " We are all friends 
here, and shall not be hurt, for we know that 
while you would not ' extenuate,' neither would 
you ' set down aught in malice.' " 

" I should hope not," replied Mr. Stanley. 
'' Let me, then, mention first the ill-effect of this 
doctrine upon those who hold it. I will not 
dwell upon the needless inconveniences and even 
hardships to which they subject themselves, in 
endeavoring to carry out what they think to be 
commanded by the Lord, — the ' crosses ' they 
make out of it, fatal sometimes even to health 
and life. I cannot think their position favorable 
to the best state of mind and heart. It tends to 
awaken a self-complacency, not to say a self-con- 
ceit, which is any thing but ' lovely and of good 



i 



THE RxlTIONAL ARGUMENT. 315 

report.' Prof. Stuart, in his great article on the 
Mode of Baptism, published in the Am. Bib. Re- 
pository, gives, as one of the reasons why he was 
induced to write it, the reception of a letter from 
a correspondent, of which the following is an ex- 
tract : — 

" ' As those who are not immersed but adopt a 
form of man's invention do not obey the Sa- 
viour's command, so they will not, all other 
things being equal, enjoy the highest seat in heaven. 
Regeneration is the only qualification necessary 
to enter there. All who have been born again 
will see God, But in heaven there are different 
grades of happiness. The degree which each 
will enjoy will be proportioned to the fidelity of 
his obedience. To explain more fully my mean- 
ing : — of two persons, who have in every other 
respect thought and acted and spoken alike, but 
the one was immersed and obeyed, while the other 
was sprinkled and did not obey, the former must 
have a higher place in heaven than the latter. If 
then he would be as happy as possible in heaven, 
ought not he who believes immersion only to be 
baptism to practice it? Nothing is more common 
than to hear persons say that the observance of 
the form is not essential. If they mean it is not 



316 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

essential to enter heaven, we grant it. But to 
enjoy the most happiness there, it is essential,' 
since we cannot obey unless we do it.' " 

" I hope you do not hold the entire denomina- 
tion answerable for such foolish utterances as 
that," said Mrs. Mason. 

" Certainly not ; it is too marked an exhibition 
of spiritual vanit}^ to do aught but excite disgust 
in all who behold it. And yet, that such is the 
legitimate tendency of those views, — for the 
error of this writer is not so much in his reason- 
ing as in his premises, — seems very evident, and 
may I hope be said without any breach of char- 
ity." 

'• But however that may be, there can be no 
question that it does tend to censoriousness and 
uncharitableness toward other Christians. Re- 
cur again to the language of Dr. S. F. Smith 
in the article already cited, (p. 11) Here we 
are unchurched outright, without an if or but. 
And there are other things in that article no less 
offensive even to Christian courtesy. '- What 
then,' he asks, ' are we to think of the prayer in 
the Litany of the English Church, repeated 
every day for hundreds of years, '^ From all her- 
esy and schism, good Lord, deliver us." Has 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 317 

God allowed so many devout m^n for these many 
years to offer this petition to the Answerer of 
prayer, and yet to pray in vain ? I reply, They 
have no right to expect God to answer such a prayer. 
Let them answer it by returning to the bosom of 
the true church,' — (^. e. the church of John 
Smith and John Spilsbury, which was not origi- 
nated till centuries after the Litany was com- 
posed). 'God has given his inspired word to. 
them as to us, which is sufficient to guide them 
into all truth. They do not need a fresh revela- 
tion, or a fresh exercise of divine power to save 
them from heresy (Greek, hairesis^ difference) 
and schism. The plain word of God translated 
by themselves is all that is needed by them. Let 
them follow it meekly, reverently, cheerfully, 
and exactly, and then, and not till then the 
prayer, " From all heresy and schism, good Lord, 
deliver us," will be answered.' 

"- 1 cite these words of Dr. Smith, because of 
his eminence among Baptists, and his beautiful 
hymns delight many Christians of other denomi- 
nations than his own. Sad indeed is it that we 
should be compelled to associate with his name 
other words breathing a spirit so different from 
theirs. 



318 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

''Here is another similar utterance from the 
Rev. George B. Taylor, Editor of the Chris- 
tian Review for April 1858, one of the standard 
publications of the denomination. It is from an 
article entitled, ' Qualifications for the Lord's 
Supper.' ' If the question were whether we are 
to recognize an unbaptized [^. e. unimmersed] 
man as ofBcially qualified to preach and adminis- 
ter the ordinance, we could not hesitate to an- 
swer in the negative. . . . We cannot regard 
him as any more entitled to preach than any 
other unordained man of similar gifts. ... If 
this unbaptized brother desires to occupy our 
pulpit, and have the use of our meeting-house 
and the ear of our congregation, we are free to 
say that while he has no absolute claim for these 
things, Christian courtesy and regard for truth 
and the common cause should incline us cheer- 
fully to grant them. Nor should we in all this 
recognize this unbaptized Christian brother as a 
member^ much less as an officer^ of a visible church.^ " 

" Indeed, father," said Mary, " how very 
grateful you ought to be for such professions of 
' Christian courtesy,' from one whose own sacra- 
mental lineage boasts so august an origin as the 
self-baptism of John Smith or the mutual immer- 
sion of Roger Williams and Ezekiel HoUiman ! " 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 319 

" I trust, my dear, I am suitably so. But the 
subject is not a pleasant one to dwell upon, and 
I gladly pass it by. I should not, however, for- 
bear to quote the declarations of the American 
and Foreign Bible Society, supported by the Bap- 
tists, in their Annual Report for 1840. 

'''Resolved — that the nations of the earth 
must now look to the Baptist djnomination alone 
for faithful translations of the Word of God.' 
And referring to the refusal of the British and 
Foreign Bible Society and the American Bible 
Society, to yield to their demand that the word 
haptizo and its derivatives shall be translated by 
terms equivalent to immerse, etc, in versions 
prepared for use in heathen lands, they charge 
these venerable institutions with ' virtually com- 
hining to obscure at least part of the divine Reve- 
lation, and to circulate versions of the Bible 
unfaithful^ at least so far as the subject of bap- 
tism is concerned.' 

" But the worst of all the evils connected with 
the claims of our Baptist brethren, are the un- 
scriptural doctrine and practice of close commu- 
nionS^ 

" Our practice is not peculiar in this, as has 
very often been proved," rejoined Mrs. Mason. 



320 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" Our communion is no more close than yours, 
for you do not admit those whom you regard as 
unbaptized persons to the Lord's table." 

" We do not invite any that are not Christians^ 
but we exclude none that are. If we did, it 
would only show that our practice is as contrary 
to the spirit of the gospel as yours. And if 
there are any who are thus exclusive in fact, let 
them share in the same condemnation. But it is 
not so. The terms of admission to church mem- 
bership are one thing, to the Lord's Supper quite 
another. Your own Dr. Olmstead, of the Watch- 
man and Reflector, in his recent communion 
with Christians of other denominations in Lon- 
don, has vindicated the act on what I accept as 
the true ground. The Supper does not belong to 
the church, but to all behevers. It was instituted 
and first celebrated before there was a Christian 
church, and the first communicants, as I have 
before said were, a majority of them, unbaptized 
persons.^ We invite to it all, therefore, who 
give evidence of piety. We mention no names, 
we specify no sects, we do not refuse any who 
profess to be the Lord's and desire a place at his 
table. Even if a pious Friend who discards all 



iSee Roli^ert Hall's Terms of Communion. Part 1. Section 2. 



THE RATIOIsrAL ARGUMEl^T. 321 

baptism, like Gurney, or Mrs. Fry, or our sweet 
singer, Whittier, should propose to sit down with 
us there, we would not say him nay. We hold 
that it is the Lord's table, not ours ; and that all 
have a right to it whom He invites, not we.^ 

'' Close communion has no warrant in the Word 
of God. Dr. Smith says, ' We have not a direc- 
tion or permission in the whole New Testament 
for an unbaptized person to celebrate the com- 
munion, nor a clear example wherein any unbap- 
tized person did so. Can you present one ? ' I 
ask him in turn, when was Simon Peter baptized, 
or James, or Philip, or Bartholomew, or Thomas, 
or Matthew the publican, or James the son of 
Alpheus, or Thaddeus, or Simon the Canaanite ? 
And yet they participated in the first commu- 
nion. He may say they had been baptized by 
John. But how does he know this ? Not a 
hint of the kind is upon record. Even if 
they were, it was not Christian baptism. ' My 
deliberate opinion,' says Robert Hall, ' is that* 
in the Christian sense of the term they were not 

Ut is related of the venerable Father Sewall, of Maine, that being 
present once at a sacramental occasion in a Baptist church, he was 
passed by in the distribution of the bread and the wine. After the rest 
had partaken and he plate and cup were returned to the table, the 
good old man stepped forward and helped himself to the sacred em- 
blems, saying, as he did so, * This brethren, is the Lord's table and I 
have as good a right to it as any of you." 



322 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

baptized at all. From tlie total silence of Scrip- 
ture, and from other circumstances which might 
be adduced, it is difficult to suppose they sub- 
mitted to that rite after the Saviour's resur- 
rection ; and previous to it, it has been suffi- 
ciently proved that it was not in force.' (Works 
I. p. 303). The claim that they had been 
baptized is a pure assumption, and yet neces- 
sarily, it is a corner stone to the whole sys- 
tem of close communion. For if our Lord him- 
self communed with unbaptized persons, then his 
followers may. 

" On the other hand, the New Testament ex- 
pressly commands believers not to let their spec- 
ulative differences be a bar to Christian fellow- 
ship. ' Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, 
but not to doubtful disputations. Who art 
thou that judgest another man's servant ? To his 
own master he standeth or falleth ; yea, he shall 
be holden up : for God is able to make him stand. 
Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also 
received us to the glory of God.' (Rom 14 : 1-5 ; 
15 : 7). 

'' Close communion has no support in the prac- 
tice of the universal church till within very re- 
cent times. The early churches rejected heretics^ 



THE RATIOKAL ARGUMENT. 323 

impure in life or corrupters of Christian doctrine, 
but none whom they believed to be true disciples 
of the Lord. In particular, they never made 
baptism, either as respects mode or subjects, un- 
less conjoined with heretical doctrine, an occa- 
sion of non-communion. Says Mr. Hall again, 
' They (close communionists) are "the only per- 
sons in the world of whom we have either heard 
or read who contend for the exclusion of genuine 
Christians from the Lord's table ; who ever at- 
tempted to distinguish them into two classes, 
such as are entitled to commemorate their Sa- 
viour's death and such as are excluded from that 
privilege. In what page of the voluminous 
records of the church is such a distinction to be 
traced ? Or what intimation shall we find in 
Scripture of an intention to create such an in- 
vidious disparity among the members of the 
same body ? Did it ever enter the conception of 
any but Baptists that a right to the sign could be 
separated from the thing signified ; or that there 
could be a description of persons interested in 
all the blessings of the Christian covenant, yet 
not entitled to partake of its sacraments and 
seals? '1 

^See the masterly argument of Rev. Robert Hall for open commu- 
nion in his Works Vol. 1. pp. 283, 504. 



324 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

'^ It is well known that the vast majority of 
English Baptists are followers of the views of 
Mr. Hall. Never have I enjoyed the sacramental 
service more than on the occasion when I was 
permitted to join in it with Mr. Spurgeon's church 
in London, and he gave us his right hand wel- 
coming us most cordially to the table of the 
Lord. We felt that the service was a showing 
forth of the Lord's death, not of the divisions 
and follies of his people.^ 

'VClose communion exerts the most baleful 
influence upon the peace of families. A Christian 
wife has prayed for years for her impenitent hus- 
band. She has held up before him her own pure 



lEven in this country close communion has not always been the rule. 
The fundamental article in the covenant of the first Baptist church 
ever gathered in Massachusetts — that formed at Swansea in 1663 ~ 
declares that : 

" Union to Christ is the sole ground of the communion of Christians, 
and so they were ready to accept of, receive to, and hold church-com- 
munion with, all such as in a judgment of charity, are fellow members 
in the Head Christ Jesus, though differing in such controversial points as 
are not absolutely and essentially necessary to salvation. " {R. I. Hist, Coll. 
iv:20.) 

*' Here is an old Baptist opinion as to what constitutes liberty of con- 
science, by a body of men who knew whereof they affirmed; who had 
been in their own persons and households persecuted for righteousness' 
sake ; and written by one who had — before his persecution — been of 
a different judgment All honor to John Myles and his little company, 
for so noble a testimony, so nobly uttered." Dr. Dexter. 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 325 

example, and has besought him with the tender- 
est entreaties to turn to the Saviour. At last 
God hears her prayer, and the voice of joy and 
praise ascends from the newly erected altar of 
that household. And now, twice married in the 
hohest ties, she would bring her husband with 
her to the communion table. But a Baptist 
minister has persuaded him that immersion alone 
is baptism, and has succeeded in drawing him 
into the water. ' No, madam,' he tells her, ' you 
cannot sit down with him at Christ's table. 
Only on one condition may the longing of your 
heart be gratified. Renounce your own baptism ; 
tell the world that the faith of your parents 
when they brought you in infancy to the sacred 
font was a superstition ; turn your back upon 
them, and on all those with whom you have 
hitherto walked in the Lord ; go into the water, 
and then yon may come and commune with your 
husband ! ' A father and mother wrestle with 
the angel of the covenant in prayer for the con- 
version of their children. Their prayers are an- 
swered, and one after another they are brought to 
Christ. But, alas, when they would welcome 
them to the fold of the church, they find that 
they have imbibed from some source the opinion 



326 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

that immersion is essential and close communion 
a duty. And so the unity of the family is 
broken, and instead of walking to the house of 
God in company they go different ways, and the 
parents sit childless at the sacramental feast. 

^'Not long since, a lady who had been many 
years absent in missionary service, returned with 
her husband to this country on a visit to her 
home and friends. Consecrated to God in in- 
fancy by her pious parents, and blessed with 
faithful Christian nurture, she early became a 
disciple of the Lord. Subsequently, she es- 
poused the views of the Baptists, and went forth 
as a missionary among the heathen. On this visit 
to her native land, as the time drew near for her 
return, her venerable father expressed a strong 
desire that ere she left, to meet him no more 
probably on earth, he might have the comfort of 
sitting with her again at the table of the Lord. 
But no : — he was unimmersed, and the longing of 
his heart was denied ! Was that a sacrifice, we 
ask, on the part of either, which Christ required? 
And will that missionary wish to tell the story to 
the converts from heathenism among whom she 
labors, to show unto them the kindly spirit of 
the gospel she has brought them ? 



J 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 327 

''How unhappy the feelings which this un- 
christian practice awakens among Christians of 
different names ! ' Woe to the world,' said 
Christ, ' because of offenses. It must needs be 
that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom 
the offense cometh.' Much more may we add, 
Woe to that evil thing by whom it cometh. 
Such claims, and such judgments of others, as 
close communion implies are offenses of the grav- 
est character. We do not, I hope, resent them ; 
and certainly, we have no wish to obtrude our- 
selves upon the fellowship of others when we are 
not wanted. But we lament these things for 
their sakes, and for the sake of the common name 
of Christians which we wear." 

" Why, then," said Mrs. Mason, " do you not, 
yourselves, remove the obstacles to that fellow- 
ship ? You acknowledge that immersion is bap- 
tism, and that all modes are alike valid. Why 
not, then, adopt our mode, and all difl&culties will 
vanish in a moment." 

''For all the reasons that I have now, at so 
great length, exhibited. While we admit that 
imnaersion is baptism, we do not believe that it is 
the only mode, or the Scriptural mode, or the 
most fitting mode. Besides, to yield to it, would, 



328 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

for us, be to sanction an unreasonable ritualism, 
wliich imposes unwarranted burdens on tender 
cansciences, and makes crosses out of what 
should be a delight. We should feel ourselves 
violating all those commands that bid us look be- 
yond forms to the substance ; to worship God in 
the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have 
no confidence in the flesh.* No ; much as we de- 
sire unity, there is a price at which even that 
must not be purchased. We cannot give up the 
precious birthright of our sonship, the liberty 
wherewith Christ hath made us free. 

''And it is not alone to them and other denom- 
inations, that close communion is a cause of evil ; 
it is a leaven of mischief among Baptists them- 
selves. Here is an article taken recently from 
the ' Baptist Union,' the names only being sup- 
pressed. I know not whether the statement be 
true or not, but if it be, or even if it be possible, 
ought it not to stamp with everlasting reproba- 
tion such a disturber of the peace in Israel ? 

" ' Rev. has recently asserted in public, 

that an arrangement has been made by a few 
ministers, by which they can prevent any liberal, 
[z. ^., open-communionist] minister from securing 
a pastorate, and that he had defeated the settle- 



THE RATIONAL AKGUMENT. 329 

ment of over the church, though 

nearly the whole church desired his services. 

'' 'He also mentioned Messrs. , , — , 

, and by flame, and said that, while it 



might be impossible to unsettle them, they could 
and would prevent them from securing any new 

pastorates. He spoke particularly of Dr , as 

now desiring a church,' and said that he would be 
defeated in every effort to secure one, unless he 
emphatically retracted his liberal utterances, and 
pledged future loyalty to close communion. We 

are assured that the action of the church 

has been dictated by this influence.'" 

''And does it need any argument to show that 
a practice, of which these are the direct fruits, 
must be a serious hindrance to the progress of 
Christ's cause ? Do we not know how often 
worldly men point to it, and to the contentions 
caused by it, as proofs that Christians are no 
better than they ? Says a ministerial brother, — 
' When a young pastor, I welcomed to my pulpit, 
one Sabbath morning, an Agent of the Sunday- 
School cause. Eloquently did he advocate it, as 
a union work, dwelling on the good it was effect- 
ing in the frontier settlements of the West, be- 
cause it ignored sectarianism, and brought all 



830 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Christians to labor together for the salvation of 
the young. My church responded liberally to 
his appeal; and at the close of the service, we 
remained to celebrate the safiramental supper, it 
being our regular communion day. I invited the 
brother to stay and assist me in the services, but, 
with an embarrassed manner, he excused himself 
on the ground that he was a Baptist, and with- 
drew. Of what worth were all those beautiful 
appeals for union in Christ's work, followed by 
such an example as this ? ' 

'' I have, myself, had the privilege of laboring, 
as a missionary, on heathen ground; and you, 
my children, were born there. I can speak of 
the tendencies of sectarianism upon the people 
of those lands. For the most part, I am glad to 
say, that missionaries of different denominations 
withhold the exhibition of their speculative diff- 
erences from the observation of the heathen ; 
nay, that the work of saving souls, which absorbs 
their hearts, obliterates, to a great extent, those 
differences themselves. No more delightful ex- 
amples of Christian union are to be found, the 
world over, than may be seen among the brethren 
of different names, on many of the mission-fields 
of the East. And I do not hesitate to affirm 



THE EATIONAL ARGUMENT. 331 

that, were it otherwise, — were the churches 
gathered from amidst the heathen to practice the 
same exclusiveness and sectarianism which too 
often prevails here, it would be a more formid- 
able hinderance to the success of the gospel than 
caste, and polygamy, and all the social vices that 
prevail among themselves. For these can be 
made to fall before the power of the truth 
wielded by the Spirit of God, but those destroy 
the power of the truth itself .^ 



iThe following facts are stated on the authority of Rev. Horatio 
Bardwell, late of Oxford, Mass., and formerly a missionary of the 
A. B. C. F. M. in India. 

" When the second band of missionaries whom the American Board 
sent to India, arrived in that country, they were uncertain for a while 
where their place of destination would be. In the mean time, they 
abode with a Baptist missionary of England, who had been laboring 
for man}^ years, and had not seen the face of an English or American 
Christian. He received them with open arms, invited them to preach, 
and extended to them all the hospitality within his power. By and by 
a communion season came. Our missionaries not wishing to set their 
Baptist brother on the defensive by entering into an argument, merely 
tried the force of an appeal to his conscience. They went into the 
church in a body, and seated themselves in a remote part of the house, 
by which it was known that they did not expect to commune. The 
native converts, never having heard of close communion, were as- 
tounded. ' What ! ' said they, ' these Christian ministers, whom we 
have been taught to love and recognize as Christians, retire from the 
Lord's table ! ' The Baptist missionary kept weeping all the while he 
was administering the elements to the people, but said nothing. As he 
carae out of the house, he advanced to our missionaries, and taking 
them by the hand, gave vent to his feelings in a flood of tears In tlie 
midst of uncontrollable sobs he exclaimed, ' Brethren, I do not be- 
lieve the Lord ever meant to try his people so.' 'No,' said the mis- 



832 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

''And if there was needed one word more to 
exorcise this evil spirit of sectarianism, we may 
surely find it in the love of Christ to us all, and 
his last prayer to his Father that we all may be 
one. It may be that we cannot all interpret the 
Scriptures alike, nor agree precisely as to the 
modes of baptism, of worship, of ordination ; 
that we cannot always adopt the same methods 
of Christian work ; but can we not love as breth- 
ren ? Can we not yield to each other the privi- 
lege of acting according to the light that is given 
to us, and even receive those whom we think 
' weak in the faith ? ' Can we not, ought we not, 
to meet at the table that bears the memorials of 
our common salvation? Partaking of the same 
viands has been regarded, in every age and 
among all nations, the proof and the pledge of 
friendship. Can we not give each other this 
token ? 



sionaries, ' it is a trial of your own making.' ' Well,' said he, ' I will 
go home and think of it.' The result was that he renounced close com- 
munion, and afterwards sat down in consistency with his Christian 
conscience at the table of the Lord with his brethren. And so kind 
was he that, though he retained his other Baptist sentiments, he al- 
lowed the American missionaries to baptize ov.o, of their infants in his 
own chapel." New Englander, vol. xiii; p. 579. 

The above incident I have heard Bro. Spaulding speak of. The min- 
ister's name was Chater, of Columbo, where tho misHionar.y band — 
Spaulding, Winslow, Scudder, and Woodward, — landed. H» 



THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 333 

" There is a melancholy cadence running 
through all our memories of the late Alliance, 
when we think that there could be no response 
to Christ's loving command, ' Do this in remem- 
brance of me ; ' — when we think of those dear 
Christian brethren who had come thousands of 
miles to demonstrate the unity of his people, but 
were not permitted to eat and drink at his ap- 
pointed feast together. 

'*Ah woe! ah grief! 
Beyond belief ! 
Oh, could you not e'en once agree 
When you were met to talk of Me?" 

" Political parties forget their strifes around 
the grave of a buried chieftain. Sundered fami- 
lies bury their differences, and clasp the hand of 
forgiveness when the death of a parent melts 
them in a common sorrow. And shall not the 
memorial supper of our dying Lord, if no other 
scene may, be permitted to testify that his people 
are one? Will they not there, if no where else, 
cease their controversies, suspend their censorious 
judgments, and let the hearts which really are 
kindred with each other in the unity of Christ's 
love, reveal that kinship in the unity of their 
own ? 



834 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

" A few years ago, a company of travelers 
from England and America were spending the 
Sabbath together in Jerusalem. It was, if I 
mistake not, at the passover season, and, with a 
common impulse, they met for worship in the 
' Coenaculum,' or upper room, still shown as that 
in which the last supper was held. The scene 
and its associations suggested the service which 
should follow, and it was spontaneously agreed to 
spread anew, in that place, the memorials of the 
Saviour's dying love. There were ministers and 
members of several different denominations pres- 
ent. As the sacred service was about to begin, 
one of the party, a Baptist, and, I think, one or 
two more arose and left. All that remained sat 
silent under the suggestions thus awakened. At 

length. Dr. C , also a Baptist, but one who 

had learned to love his Lord more than his sect, 
arose, and drawing nigh to the table said, with a 
voice tremulous with emotion, ' Can / turn my 
back on these memorials of my Lord, because 
some of you are of a different Christian house- 
hold from myself ? I am a Baptist, but I hope I 
am more, — a Christian. Methinks I see the 
look of our dying Saviour turned to me with 
sadness and love, as if to say, "Will ye also go 



THE BATION-AL ARGUMENT. 335 

away? " And let my answer to-day be, " Lord, 
to whom shall I go ? For where thou art, there 
is my abiding place ; thy table is my table ; and 
all those that love thee, and meet there to testify 
that love are my brethren." ' 

" May the time speedily come when this noble 
sentiment shall find a response in all Christian 
hearts; and wherever the Lord's table is spread, 
and loving disciples gather about it to show forth 
his death till he come, may each one say, ' Where 
Jesus is, there is my place ; and all they who 
meet each other there in faith and love are my 

BBETHEEIJ.' '^ 



SYNOPTICAL INDEX. 



PAGE 

Preface 3 

Contents 7 

The Evangelical Alliance 9 

Exhibition of Christian unity 10 

A Communion season desired 11 

Objected to by Baptists 11 

Mrs. Mason and her family 12 

The Stanleys 13 

Close Communion 13 

Baptists only in the Church of Christ 14 

Assertions of Dr. S. F. Smith 14 

Exclusiveness of Baptist views 17 

The charge retorted on other denominations 18 

A discussion agreed upon * 20 

I. THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT. 

The Baptismal Commission 24 

How to determine its meaning 24 

Illustration from Blackstone's Commentaries 25 

How did the Apostles understand it ? 26 

L What means they had of understanding it. 26 

1. They were familiar with John's baptism 27 

a. Reasons for believing this was not immersion 27 

(1.) The great multitudes baptized 28 

Populousness of the country at that time 28 

22 337 



338 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Meaning of the word ** all." 29 

Did John stand in the river ? 30 

Did he have assistants ? 31 

(2.) The wimt of baptismal garments 32 

(3.) No proof from his baptizing in Jordan 33 

The wilderness was his home 33 

Abundant water needed for other purposes 34 

(4.) No proof from the words " into " and " out of." 35 

b. Reasons for believing it was done by sprinkling 38 

(1.) The example of Moses at Mt. Sinai 38 

(2.) The law of purilicution required sprinkling 39 

John's baptism not regarded as new .• 39 

Personal immersions not enjoined 40 

Kis baptism termed a purifying 43 

The prediction of a Purifier by Malachi 44 

(3.) It was a symbol of the baptism of the Spirit 46 

Remark, Christ's baptism not our example.. 49 

Either in its nature 49 

Or in its design 51 

c, John's baptizing at ^non 53 

Locality of iEnon 54 

Meaning of " much water." 54 

This needed for other purposes than immersion 54 

2. They were familiar with the baptism of proselytes 58 

Evidence that it was then practiced 58 

The mode of it 60 

Special reason for this 61 

Value of Rabbinic testimony 63 

3." They were fomiliar with the teachings of the Old Testament, 66 

a. Sprinkling always the rite of purification 66 

h. Sprinkling was to characterize the new dispensation 67 

c. Old Testament examples of baptism 69 

(1.) Naaman the Syrian leper 69 

(2.) Nebuchadnezzar 71 

(3.) Isaiah, baptized by iniquity 73 

(4.) Judith 73 

(5.) One who had touched a dead body 78 

4. They were familiar with contemporary usage 80 

a. Baptism before eating '. 80 

Ancient methods of ablution 82 

Abyssinian custom 84 

Was it the washing of articles purchased ? 84 

Present Oriental customs .^ 86 



SYNOPTICAL INDEX. 339 

h. Baptism of pots, cups, etc 87 

c. Baptism of tables 88 

Baptist objections and explanations 90 

0. They were familiar with Chrisfs use of the word 93 

a. His own baptism of suffering 93 

Dr. Dale's explanation. (Note.) 91 

h. The promised baptism of the Holy Spirit 93 

Mode of its fulfillment at the pentecost 97 

. Verbal expressions used in describing it 97 

Meaning of the Greek word en 99 

Was this a literal baptism ? 100 

Meaning of baptism with fire 101 

II. How THE Apostles did understand the Commission 104 

1. As shown from their own practice 105 

a. The baptism of 3000 at the pentecost 105 

Time, place, etc 105 

The time and place of the assembling 105 

(1.) There was no place for immersing 106 

Cisterns, pools, streams 106 

(2.) No preparation for clothing. 108 

(3.) No sufficient time 109 

Baptismal scene at the Sandwich Islands 110 

Alleged baptism by Chrysostom Ill 

Alleged baptism by Hemigius 112 

h. The baptism of the Eunuch 113 

The supposed locality 113 

Meaning of " into " and ** out of." 114 

Present mode of bathing in India 115 

What suggested baptism to the Eunuch 116 

c. The baptism of Saul of Tarsus... 118 

d. The baptism of Cornelius 120 

e. The baptism of Lydia and her household 122 

/. The baptism of the jailer at Philippi 124 

2. As shown from their teachings 129 

a. The little prominence they gave to the rite 129 

h. Burial with Christ in baptism 130 

Importance of the phrase in Baptist estimation 130 

Other figures also used to denote baptism 132 

No outward form can correspond to all these 134 

Imm.ersion not like the burial of Christ 134 

Source of the figure not in form but in signification 136 

Baptism never made a symbol of death 137 



340 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Baptism the symbol of purification 137 

Impropriety of the phrase " the liquid grave." 139 

The outward rite not a burial with Christ ." . . . 140 

c. Baptism of the Jews unto Moses 142 

d. Baptism of Christians by one Spirit 144 

e. Oneness of baptism. Eph.4:5 145 

f. Baptism typified by the deluge 146 

g. The divers baptisms of the law 149 

h. The witness of the water 153 

Results of the Scripture argument 158 

II. THE PHILOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. ^ 

Nature of this argument 159 

Classic usage no law to Christianity 159 

New Testament Greek peculiar 160 

Historical view of it 160 

Illustrations of its peculiarities 162 

Anecdote from Dr. Hall. (Note.) 162 

Testimony of Dr. George Campbell ' 164 

Testimony of Ernesti 165 

Testimony of Prof. Stuart 165 

Testimony of Prof. Whittemore 166 

I. Classical or Pagan Usage..... 167 

1. Definitions of the Lexicons 168 

2. The word Bapto 172 

«. Its primar}" meaning, to dip 172 

6. Its secondary meaning, to dye, to smear 172 

The secondary sense formerly denied 173 

The secondary sense as literal as the primary 174 

3. The word Baptizo 175 

Distinction between general and specific words 175 

a. Its primary meanings 176 

(1.) Does not signify to dip.... 176 

(2.) Does not signify to plunge 180 

(3,) It signifies to immerse 180 

But immerse not a modal word 181 

Examples of eight different modes of Immersion 182 

h. Its secondary meanings *. 185 

Denoting eff'ects without reference to modes 185 

(1.) Baptism with a drug 186 

(2.) Baptism by wine 187 

(3.) Baptism with taxes 187 



SYNOPTICAL INDEX. 341 

(4.) Baptism with diseases 187 

(5.) Baptism with grief. 188 

(6.) Bnptism by misfortaues 188 

(7.) Baptism by questions 188 

(8.) Baptism by excessive labors 188 

(9.) Baptism with sleep 189 

(10.) Various other baptisms 189 

II. Usage of the Christian Fathers 191 

1. Baptism of Elijah's altar on Mt. Carmel 192 

2. Baptism symbolized by the brazen laver 193 

3. Baptism administered on a couch 193 

4. Baptism by sprinkling 194 

5. Baptism by pouring 194 

6. Baptism by circumcision 195 

7. Baptism by Christ's death 195 

8. Baptism by a sword 196 

9. Baptism by fire 196 

10. Baptism by martyrdom 197 

11. Baptism by tears 197 

12. Baptism by crossing the Jordan 198 

Claims of Baptists compared with these usages 202 

III. The Early Versions of the Scriptures 205 

1. Baptismal terms in the Syrian versions 206 

2. Baptismal terms in the Arabic versions 210 

3. Baptismal terms in the Persic version 210 

4. Baptismal terms in the Egyptian versions 210 

5. Baptismal terms in the Latin versions 210 

6. Baptismal terms in the Gothic versions 211 

7. Baptismal terms in the Slavonic versions 211 

Why these terms were transferred, and not translated 212 

III. THE HISTOmCAL ARGUMENT. 

I. The Usages of the Early Church 214 

Nature of the argument 215 

Their usages not authority 215 

Estimate of their value as testimony 215 

1. In the first two Centuries the mode not recorded 217 

Silence of the Apostolical Fathers 217 

Inferences from this silence 218 

Testimonies of Justin Martyr and Tertullian 219 

2. After the second Century immersion was practiced 221 



842 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

a. It originated in tlie belief of baptismal regeneration 222 

Testimony of Tertullian 223 

Testimony of Basil of Csesarea 225 

Testimony of Jerome 225 

b. Its form was triple, or trine 226 

Believed to be required by the word *' baptizo." 226 

And by the form of the commission 227 

Single immersion of he^-etical origin 228 

Was forbidden by the Apostolic Canons 229 

And by a decree of the lid Ecumenical Council 230 

The practice of it permitted In Spain, and why 231 

Was always regarded with disfavor 232 

c. It was required to be received naked 234 

Testimony of Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Cyril 234 

Of Bobinson and Wall 235 

Appointment of deaconesses • 236 

Bemarks of Dr. Miller 236 

d. Other superstitious ceremonies connected with it 237 

e. Administered to infants as well as adults 239 

Proofs from the Fathers 240 

Infant baptism no *' relic of popery." 241 

3. Sprinkling and affusion allowed when necessary 242 

Immersion often dangerous or impossible 243 

Decision of Cyprian and the Council of Carthage 244 

Clinic baptism 246 

Distinction between regularity and validity 248 

The rule of necessity a liberal one 250 

Admitted when there was a scarcity of water 250 

Admitted in cases of imprisonment 250 

Admitted when baptistery was small 251 

4- Pictorial representations of baptism 252 

From the Boman Catacombs 252 

The Font of St. Prisca 254 

The Font of St. Pontianus... 255 

Other representations 257 

II. Usages of the Modern Church 265 

1. Of the Western or Latin Church 266 

Testimonies of Aquinas and Bonaventura 266 

The Council of Bavenna 267 

Synods of Anglers, Lyons, etc 267 

Councils of Cologne, Mentz, and Trent. 267 

Beasons for the disuse of immersion 269 



SYNOPTICAL INDEX. 343 

2. Of the Reformed Churches 273 

Luther, Calvin, and Turretin 273 

English and Scotch Churches 274 

The Westminster Assembly 274 

3. Of the Eastern Churches 276 

The Greek Church 276 

The Armenian Church 278 

The Syrian Church 279 

Statement of Mar Yohanan 280 

4. Of the Baptist Churches 281 

Were the Church and its sacraments extinct ? 282 

The Petrobrussians and Mennonites 285 

Origin of the denomination 287 

a. The self-baptism of John Smith 287 

h. The baptism of John Spilsbury 288 

c. The baptism of Roger Williams 290 

Smith's defense of self-baptism 292 

His baptism probably by sprinkling 294 

His retractation 294 

IV. THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT. 

I. The rite should be practicable for all 298 

In desert lands 298 

In all climates and seasons 299 

Instances of immersion in winter 300 

For the sick and infirm 301 

The dying girl 302 

No warrant for making baptism a cross 304 

II. Christianity does not exalt outward rites 305 

III. If mode were essential, it would have been defined 309 

Whately on " Omissions " in the Scriptures 310 

IV. Unimmersed churches share God's blessing 311 

V. Unhappy tendencies of Baptist views 314 

1. Fostering self-complacency 314 

A Baptist's letter to Prof. Stuart 315 

2. Leading to censoriousness and uncharitableness 316 

Language of Dr. S. F. Smith 316 

Language of Dr. George B. Taylor 318 

Language of American and Foreign Bible Society 319 



344 THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

3. Resulting in Close Communion 319 

This not chargeable upon Pedobaptists 320 

Anecdote of " Father Sewall." (Note.) 321 

1. Close Communion without warrant in the Bible 321 

XJnbaptized persons at the first communion 321 

Divisions and Separations forbidden 322 

2. Has no support in history 322 

3. Is destructive to the peace of families 32i 

The returned missionary 326 

Why Pedobaptists can not be immersed 327 

4. Is an element of contention among Baptists 328 

5. Is a reproach to the cause of Christ 329 

The Sunday School agent 329 

The early missionaries in India 331 

VI. Motives to union from the love of Christ 332 

The Communion season at Jerusalem 334 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Dnve 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



a^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 665 081 8 








